What’s New and Gay To Stream in October 2022
Spooky season is descending upon us — a time for horror movie marathons, fall themed beverages, orange candles boasting autumnal scents and a whole new month of television programs and movies with lesbian, gay and bisexual characters on Netflix, Hulu, Prime Video, Peacock, HBO Max, Showtime, Paramount Plus and Disney+. Unfortunately, this year our October is not the bounty I’d hoped it’d be, although I came across a bevy of new content for queer cis men, so that is nice for them. Furthermore, I feel like every time a queer show is cancelled, another one needs to be created. An eye for an eye, look it up!
Top Row: Derry Girls, Wendell & Wild, High School, One of Us is Lying
Bottom Row: Monster High, Matriarch, Reginald the Vampire, Sissy, Pennyworth, Hellraiser
Netflix’s LGBTQ+ Movies and TV Shows for October 2022
First of all I would like to say that I have spent an ungodly amount of time attempting to deduce if The Midnight Club or The School of Good & Evil have queer female and/or trans characters and I remain SADLY STILL unsure.
The Color Purple (1985) – October 1
This classic based on Alice Walker’s novel is set in rural Georgia and is a raw emotional account of pain, passion and survival told by Celie, who seizes your whole heart with letters that trace her coming of age, falling in love for the first time and breaking free. The film de-gayed the story significantly, but subtext remains loud enough for the queer eye.
Nailed It! Season 7 – October 5
Queer comic Nicole Byer celebrates Halloween hosting a new season of home bakers battling it out for the Netflix crown.
Derry Girls: Season 3 – October 7
Sadly it is our final season with the Girls of Derry and we can look forward to a little love interest for our dearest girl Clare in a show Heather described as “consistently one of the best surprises on TV.”
Sue Perkins: Perfectly Legal – October 13
The conceit of this program starring beloved Bake-Off co-host and comic Sue Perkins is apparently that Sue will be “learn[ing] about Latin American people and their attitude towards authority, love and life by doing things that she never could or would do at home… in adventurous, shockingly legal and sometimes dangerous ways.” Honestly I do not love this premise!!
Dead End: Paranormal Park Season 2 – October 13
This is what our TV Editor Heather told me about Dead End: Paranormal Park: “Barney Guttman is the jewish trans queer teen guy who lives in the haunted house and he has a crush on his best guy friend, Logs (Logan). Norma is autistic and probably the best portrayal of autism i’ve seen/read praise about. She’s very queer in the comics but not queer on the show yet. Lots of speculation she will be this season.
Fortune Feimster: Good Fortune – October 25
Comic Fortune Feimster is a lesbian and she will be sharing stories about her life including “getting engaged, getting iced and getting a mind-blowing butt massage.”
Big Mouth: Season 6 – October 28
This traditionally very queer-inclusive cartoon show will explore “a whole new slate of cringeworthy situations and heartwarming vulnerability” in its sixth season.
Wendell & Wild (2022) – October 28
Henry Selick and Jordan Peele’s stop-motion horror comedy film features two scheming demon brothers, Wendell and Wild, who get 13-year-old Kat Elliot (Lyric Ross) on board to summon them right on back to the Land of the Living. Most importantly for our purposes here today: Wendell & Wild the first animated film to feature a trans male supporting character! Raul is played by trans actor Sam Zelaya and he’s the only boy at Kat’s Catholic School and Kat’s best friend. “This isn’t just inclusive children’s entertainment,” Drew wrote of the film. “It’s inclusive children’s entertainment that actually engages with the realities of the people it represents.”
Prime Video’s Offerings To the LGBTQ+ Audience In October 2022
Jennifer’s Body (2009) – October 1
“This film explores some of my favorite themes all in one glossy, campy, self-aware package: misandry, women being extremely gay together, principled revenge, and the triumph of aught culture.” – Erin Sullivan, “I Watched Lebianish Classic “Jennifer’s Body” and Now I Love Cinema!”
High School: Season One – October 14 (Freevee)
Queer Canadian TikTok twins Railey and Seazynn Gilliand star as Tegan and Sara Quinn in this adaptation of the legendary musical duo’s memoir, High School, set in ’90s Calgary, Alberta, and featuring Colbie Smulders as their Mom! It’s executive produced, co-written, directed, and co-showrun by Clea DuVall! It’s full of queer teen angst and awkwardness and first loves and heartbreaks and self-discovery! We are so excitant for this one!
The Peripheral: Season One Premiere – October 22
Based on William Gibson’s 2014 book, this series stars Chloë Grace Moretz as a young woman in a small forgotten town in future America, trying to hold together the pieces of her broken family while lacking a viable path for herself, until she comes in contact with a device that connects her to an alternate reality and a dark future of her own. Alexandra Billings has a recurring role as Detective Ainsely Lowbeer, who is transgender. Queer actor T’Nia Miller is also in it, and I don’t know what role she is playing, but I hope it’s a gay one!
Hulu’s Lesbian and Queer and Trans Characters for October 2022
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2011) – October 1
Bisexual hacker Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara) helps Journalist Mikael Blomkvist track down a woman who’s been missing for 40 years! This celebrated film is chock-full of trauma, dark mysteries and cold landscapes. It’s possible that Ronney Mara made you gay when you first saw this film, or perhaps you were already gay after seeing Noomi Rapace play Lisbeth in the Swedish film that came out in 2009.
Huluween Dragstravaganza (2022) – October 1
This little spooky drag variety show promises glitz, glamour, ghouls and a special performance by Ke$ha!
Hellraiser (2022) – October 7
Beloved trans actress Jamie Clayton will be the first woman to play the androgynous Pinhead in this re-imagining of the classic 1987 horror film, long considered “queer-coded.” In the new version, “a young woman struggling with addiction comes into possession of an ancient puzzle box, unaware that its purpose is to summon the Cenobites, a group of sadistic supernatural beings from another dimension.”
Matriarch (2022) – October 21
This unpleasant body horror film follows a lesbian with some sort of office job who does a lot of coke, overdoses, gets a mysterious disease and then heads to her childhood home to confront her personal demons, only to find that her mother is even more bananas than she remembered and the entire town is full of creeps and something terrible is happening to everybody!
Black Swan (2011) – October 31
This is an important film about a mother who yells at her tiny daughter Natalie Portman who grows wings maybe out of her shoulder-blades and has to turn around again and again and be a better ballerina, and at some point something sexual happens with MIla Kunis.
Shows Debuting on Hulu the day after their network premiere:
- Grey’s Anatomy: Season 19 – October 7
- Station 19: Season 6 – October 7
Peacock’s Queer Content for October 2022
Bombshell (2019) – October 1
Kate McKinnon plays a lesbian reporter stuck working at Fox News when a new staffer decides it’s time to fight back against CEO Roger Ailes’s rampant sexual harassment of the channel’s talent.
Reginald the Vampire: Season One Premiere – October 6
Reginald debuts on Syfy on October 5th, and will be available the next day on Peacock
Reginald Andres (Marvel’s Jacob Batalon) is an unlikely hero living a life of dreams deferred and about to find himself unprepared to navigate numerous obstacles as he enters the world of beautiful, thin, self-obsessed vampires in this “feel-good, heartfelt, kind of a bit stabby vampire bloody type of show.” Based on Johnny Truant’s Fat Vampire books, queer non-binary actor Marguerite Hanna plays queer non-binary character Ashley Weeks, who works with Reginald at Slushy Shack.
Chucky: Season Two Premiere – October 6
This show debuts on Syfy on October 5th, and will be available the next day on Peacock
There is a part in the trailer for Season Two of this campy horror flick where Tiffany Valentine’s daughters find Nica Pierce held captive in their house and Nica is like “your mother is a psychotic murderer, I think she’s in love with me and she chopped off all my limbs and she’s kept me trapped up here for over a year” and one of the daughters is like “Mom’s a murderer???” and the other is like “Mom’s a LESBIAN?!!!” and anyhow, so there you go on that. Non-binary actor Lachlan Watson (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) plays Glen and Glenda, the doll to which the Bride of Chucky gave birth. (I don’t know what that means, I’m just a vessel of information.)
One of Us Is Lying: Season 2 (Episodes 1-8) – October 20
Simon, who dropped dead in Season One, was best friends with Janae, who is a lesbian, and gradually became part of the “Murder Club” of kids who were in detention when Simon died. In Season Two, Janae and the other teens will fight “to protect their secret, themselves and each other.” Also she’s kissing Maeve in the trailer!
Paramount Plus+ October 2022 Homosexuals, Bisexuals & Etc
Monster High: The Movie (2022) – October 6
Non-binary actor Ceci Balagot plays non-binary character Frankie Stein in this film that follows Clawdeen Wolf, born half-human and half-werewolf, after she arrives at her new school, Monster High, and makes new friends including the aforementioned Frankie!
Star Trek: Prodigy: Returning October 27
The animated Star Trek series aimed at kiddos has been applauded for its non-binary character, Zero. Zero is a Medusan, an energy-based species that has no gender or corporeal form (living the dream, honestly).
LGBTQ+ Inclusive Shows Debuting on Paramount+ the day after their network premiere:
- The Equalizer: Season Three Premiere – October 2
- S.W.A.T: Season Six Premiere – October 7
Disney+ Programming for LGBTQ+ Population in October 2022
Big Shot: Season Two Premiere – October 12
In Season Two Marvyn (John Stamos) is hoping to recruit a new volleyball player to their basketball team after she was ousted from her own following an extreme public tantrum while tensions build when the Sirens lose their assistant coach to a rival team. In Season One, Carolyn “Mouse” Smith came out to her friend Harper and confessed her crush, so we’ll see how that all plays out in Season Two.
HBO Max’s LGBTQ+ Content for Gals, Gays and Theys in October 2022
Pennyworth: The Origins of Batman’s Butler: Season 3 – October 6
Season Three of this psychological thriller formerly housed at Epix “begins after a five-year time jump: the civil war is over, and a cultural revolution has changed the world for better or worse – ushering in a new age of Super Heroes and Supervillains.” Paloma Faith, who plays the “delightfully sadistic” queer foe-turned-friend Bet Sykes, confirmed that Season 3 will be “a bit more DC,” cartoony” and “quite fun.”
Showtime’s LGBTQ+ Characters for October 2022
Nothing Compares (2022) – October 2
A documentary that takes a look at the wild life and career of Sinead O’Connor, including the incredible fallout of her ripping-up-a-pic-of-the-pope appearance on Saturday Night Live. Yes we ARE going to redeem another emotionally intense ’90s woman who got unfairly maligned!
Shudder’s LGBTQ+ Horror For September/October 2022
Sissy (2022) – September 29
Cecelia (Aisha Dee) is a (queer) social media influencer who peddles promisees of wellness to independent millennial women when she runs into Emma (Hannah Barlow), her former BFF — they had a viscous friend breakup instigated by a third friend, bully Alex (Emily De Margheriti) — and is invited to her (gay) Hens weekend (she’s about to marry Fran (Lucy Barrett) in a remote cabin in the mountains. But it turns out to be Alex’s cabin, and Alex is there to make Cecelia’s life a living hell! The film will also hit cinema theaters in Australia on October 27th.
Queer for Fear: The History of Queer Horror: Documentary Series Premiere – September 30
This four-part documentary tells the story of LGBTQIA+ horror from its literary roots to 1920s Universal Monster Era to lavender scare alien invasion films to contemporary queer cinema. Talking heads include Jasmin Savoy Brown, Leslye Headland, Lea DeLaria, Liv Hewson and Briana Venskus.
What’s New and Gay To Stream in September 2022
The leaves are falling, children are rushing towards the first day of school with large backpacks weighing on their tender spinal cords, and you and me are wondering “what lesbian and bisexual characters are gonna show up on our television sets this September?” Well good news: there are in fact some programs and films to look forward to on Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max, Peacock, Disney+, Prime Video and more!
Netflix’s LGBTQ+ Movies and TV Shows for September 2022
Devil in Ohio: Limited Series – September 2
This absurd but engaging limited series about a girl who escapes a Satanic Cult stars Emily Deschanel as Suzanne, the suburban mother/doctor who takes her in, a decision which ends up impacting her, her three daughters and her husband in unexpected ways. Queer actor Djouliet Amara plays queer character Tatiana, the former best friend of Suzanne’s popular daughter Helen (Alisha Newton), who is also a little bit queer herself!
The Imperfects: Season One – September 8
In this sci-fi series, teenagers suffer intense consequences to illegal experiments performed on their bodies without their consent: Juan becomes a werewolf-esque creature, Abbi produces poison she can secrete through her body and Tilda, a punk band singer, gets a supersonic voice that makes performing impossible. Together they attempt to find out what happened to them and get their lives together. This show has been categorized as having “LGBTQ themes” on several platforms including Netflix itself but TBD on what that actually means!
Colette (2018) – September 13
“Certainly there’s a hint of salaciousness in the depiction of Colette’s early forays into lady-love,” writes Heather of this bipoic starring Keira Knightley as writer Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, “but the film treats her relationship with Missy with the utmost respect and tenderness. ”
In the Dark: Season Five – September 13
Heartbreak High – September 14
This Australian teen drama, a reboot of the 1994 Network Ten series, stars Ayesha Madon as Amerie, a “brash, working class girl who becomes a pariah at Hartley High” after “a discovery” (the preview suggests this “discovery” is a color-coded chart that reveals everybody’s hookups) (You know, A CHART), which causes “a mysterious and very public rift” with her best friend Harper (Asher Yasbincek). She befriends Darren (James Majoos), a South African queer and non-binary student. Sasha (Gemma Chua-Tran), the Shane of this chart, is “the coolest, sexiest, chiccest lesbian at the school” who is involved with Indigenous student Missy (Sherry-Lee Watson). There’s a lot of First Nation and queer representation in this show as well as an autistic character played by an autistic actor so I think we will all really enjoy ourselves!
Do Revenge (2022) – September 16
This film starring Camila Mendes and Maya Hawke aims to answer the question “what would it be like to take the fun, thrillery stakes of a Hitchcock movie and put it in high school?” Super-popular Drea wants to get back at her boyfriend for leaking her sex tape. Transfer student Eleanor has been outed by another girl. They decide to team up and help each other out by seeking vengeance on each other’s bullies. This could be a Glee plot but instead it’s this film and I am excited to see it!
The Dreamlife of Georgie Stone (2022) – Sep 22
This 29-minute documentary “reveals the memories of Georgia Stone, an Australian transgender teen as she helps change laws, affirms her gender, finds her voice and emerges into adulthood.”
Dynasty: Season Five – September 24
Rainbow (2022) – September 30
So this movie is called “Rainbow” and the lead is a alternateen girl with short hot-pink hair who wants to be a singer and Samantha Hudson is in it and the director is bisexual actor / producer / activist Paco León and it’s a modern re-telling of The Wizard of Oz soooooooooo
Peacock’s Offerings To the LGBTQ+ Gods In September 2022
Real Girlfriends In Paris: Season One Premiere (Bravo) – September 6
Victoria Zito, fresh out of a messy divorce from her ex-husband, will indeed be coming out as bisexual in the very first episode of the new Bravo reality series, Real Girlfriends in Paris, which follows six bold twentysomething women as they experience “wild adventures” and “romantic rendezvous” in Emily’s favorite city, Paris. Zito is a “small-town girl with big fashion dreams” raised in Texas and currently working as the head designer at fashion brand Chloe Colette.
Vampire Academy: Season One, Episodes 1-4 Premiere: September 15
Julie Plec’s latest vampire series follows two young women whose “friendship transcends their strikingly different classes as they prepare to complete their education and enter royal vampire society.” Pride dot com says the book upon which it was based was “subtextually queer” due to the “passionate and intimate” aforementioned friendship, but the adaptation should be more explicitly queer, as per a moment of two women kissing in the trailer that I painstakingly paused to evaluate as my service to the community.
Returning LGBTQ-inclusive NBC Shows Available on Hulu the Day After Their network premiere:
- New Amsterdam: Season 5 Premiere – September 21
- Law & Order SVU: Season 24 Premiere – September 23
Hulu’s Lesbian and Queer Characters for September 2022
Tell it to the Bees (2018) – September 1
Anna Paquin is Jean, a new doctor in a 1950s rural Scotland town who forms a special connection with Lydia, the mother of her patient Charlie, who is really obsessed with Jean’s bee colonies. The story was adapted by a straight person from a novel by a lesbian and The AV Club said that it “crushes a tender midcentury love story under the weight of melancholy,” so ymmv.
The Handmaid’s Tale: Season Five Two-episode premiere – September 14
Moira (Samira Wiley) and Luke will be helping June fight Gilead from a distance as they continue to pursue their ongoing interest of “rescuing Hannah” in a season that will find June facing consequences for killing Commander Waterford. Commander Lawrence is working with Nick and Aunt Lydia for some reason to reform Gilead while Serena’s working on raising her profile in Toronto, as one does.
Monarch: Series Premiere (Fox) – September 12
This “Texas-sized, multi-generational musical drama about America’s leading family of country music” stars Susan Sarandon as the queen of country music, Dottie Cantrell Roman. Beth Ditto is her daughter, Gigi Tucker-Roman, who has always felt like an outcast in her family despite her incredible singing voice, and also Gigi is GAY and married to Kayla Roman-Tucker (Meagan Holder), who is keeping a secret that could destroy her marriage to Gigi. This show was originally slated to debut on January 30, 2022, but then was delayed due to Covid-related issues.
Reboot: Season One Premiere – September 20
This Hulu original stars Rachel Bloom as a lesbian TV writer, Hannah, who pitches a reboot of an early 2000s family sitcom to a network and everybody gets right on board, forcing this dysfunctional cast of kooky characters to face their demons (each other) amid today’s fast-changing world. Rachel Bloom looks very gay in her sweater vests.
Reasonable Doubt: Two-Episode Series Premiere (Onyx/Hulu) – September 27
Kerry Washington’s the EP of this new legal drama with an all-Black writers room starring Emayatzy Corinealdi as Jax Stewart, “the most brilliant and fearless defense attorney in Los Angeles who bucks the justice system at every chance she gets.” Tiffany Yvonne Cox (Good Trouble) has a recurring role as Autumn, “the listener and caretaker of Jax’s friends” who’s happily married to her wife and has been best friends with Jax since tenth grade.
Returning LGBTQ-inclusive Fox & ABC Shows Available on Hulu the Day After Their Network Premiere:
- 9-1-1: Season 6 Premiere (Fox) – September 20
- The Cleaning Lady: Season 2 Premiere (Fox) – September 23
- Home Economics: Season 3 Premiere (ABC) – September 23
- Big Sky: Season 3 Premiere (ABC) – September 23
Paramount Plus+ September 2022
The Good Fight Season 6 Premiere – September 8th
I do feel like if you pause this trailer at 1:47, that could be Carmen Mayo (played by queer actress Charmaine Bingwa) kissing a girl! Just a note!
The Amazing Race Season 34 Premiere (CBS) – September 21
FINALLY my dream is coming true — an out engaged lesbian couple with a real shot at the gold are competing! It’ll be the first-ever season of Amazing Race to open outside of the United States, the first season since Season 15 to feature twelve teams, and the first time the series will eschew non-elimination rounds.
Disney+ Programming for LGBTQ+ in September 2022
The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers: Season 2 Premiere – September 22
Inspired by the beloved film, this family-friendly comedy finds The Mighty Ducks evolved from their once-scrappy origins into a super competitive youth hockey team. After 12-year-old Evan is cut from the team, he teams up with his Mom to start a new team of underdog misfits to challenge the reign of the ducks. One of the players, Nick, has two Moms.
Hocus Pocus 2 (2022) – September 30
The much anticipated sequel to the 90s camp classic Hocus Pocus reunites Sarah Jessica Parker, Bette Midler and Kathy Najimy as the Sanderson sisters, who’ve come to Salem to cause chaos and have to face three teenage girls who will pull out all the stops to stop them from succeeding. Some of this chaos will hopefully be GAY because the novelization that was rumored to be the basis of the sequel includes a lesbian teen love story at its heart. Queer actress Belissa Escobedo is playing “Izzy,” a name that sounds a lot like Isabella, who was a lesbian in the book. Bisexual actress Lilia Buckingham plays the lead role of Cassie and there are also three drag queens involved.
HBO Max’s LGBTQ+ Content for Gals, Gays and Theys in September 2022
Tom Swift: Season One (The CW) – September 9
This sci-fi show follows Tom Swift, a Black gay man and “an exceptionally brilliant inventor with unlimited resources and unimaginable wealth” whose father’s disappearance thrusts him into a “breathtaking adventure full of mysterious conspiracies and unexplained phenomena.” His bodyguard, Isaac Vega, is trans and pansexual!
Los Espookys: Season 2 Premiere – September 16
Vulture describes Los Espookys as “Latinx and queer as hell.” The eccentric program comes from a team of creators that includes Latinx comedians Ana Fabrega and Julio Torres and follows a group of weirdos who start a business creating “custom horror events,” like exorcisms or hauntings, for people who need them. Torres’ plays Andrés, a gay chocolate empire heir estranged from his family. Goth dental assistant Ursula (Cassandra Ciangherotti), the older sister of Fabrega’s character Tati (who is allegedly straight but “has the androgynous goofiness of a clown“), is queer and in Season Two will be reuniting with a former acquaintance to shake up local politics. Trans pop star Kim Petras is joining the cast as Secretary of State Kimberly Reynolds.
Showtime Anytime Content for September 2022
Club Cumming Presents A Queer Comedy Extravaganza – Sep 2
Alan Cumming hosts a cabaret-style gathering of seven up-and-coming queer comics: Joe Castle Baker, Julia Shiplett, duo Zach Teague & Drew Lausch, Nori Reed, Pat Regan, and Larry Owens.
American Giglio: Season One Premiere – September 9
Rosie O’Donnell is the very butch Detective Sunday in this reimagining of the ’80s Richard Gere flick. This time around, Julian is fresh out of lockup where he’s been exonerated after serving 15 years for a murder he didn’t commit after he woke up to find his client stabbed to death. I don’t think there’s gonna be any actual gay stories in this but Detective Sunday sure does seem like a homosexual!
What’s New and Gay To Stream in August 2022
Take me out to the ballgame it’s August, the month in which A League of Their Own is coming out and not a whole lot else!! After a triumphant June and an uneven July, we head into this hot breath of extreme summer with our eyes peeled for lesbian, queer, bisexual and trans characters on Netflix, Hulu, Peacock, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max, Paramount+ and Disney+. Where will we find them? More importantly: where will they find us? The answer to these questions and more will become apparent as the days roll out before us.
Amazon Prime Video’s LGBTQ+ Movies and TV Shows for August 2022
Under the Tuscan Sun (2003) – August 1
Recently divorced writer Frances (Diane Lane) buys a villa in Tuscany on a whim hoping for a big change in her life! Famously, Sandra Oh plays her lesbian best friend Patti who is expecting a baby with her partner, Grace (Kate Walsh), and thus gave Frances the Italian vacation ticket that started this whole charade. Later Patti comes to visit! Big Mommi energy.
The Outlaws: Season 2 – August 5
Seven lawbreakers unite to pursue the completion of their community payback sentences in this series starring Christopher Walken that involves humorous heists and an influencer who committed her crime during a bad breakup with her girlfriend.
A League Of Their Own: Season One – August 12
I am more excited for y’all to see this show than I’ve been for anything since Orange is the New Black’s first season! I got screeners last month and have already watched the entire season twice. Unlike the iconic 1992 film that managed to make us all into the homosexuals we are today without any explicitly homosexual content, the reboot, which stars Abbi Jacobson, D’Arcy Carden, Chante Adams and Roberta Colindrez; directly explores racism and lesbianism within and outside of the leagues. There are unforgettable queer characters at the epicenter of every scene, plot and story. The only thing wrong with this show is that Amazon Prime Video did not buy advertising on our website to promote it.
Netflix’s Queer Content for August 2022
Sandman: Season One – August 5
Non-binary actor Mason Alexander Park plays pansexual gender-fluid entity Desire and Daisy Head plays lesbian character Judy Talbot in this adaptation of the Neil Gaiman series described as “a rich blend of modern myth and dark fantasy in which contemporary fiction, historical drama and legend are seamlessly interwoven.” The entire series has plenty of lesbian and trans characters turn up throughout its full run, and promo photos suggest we’ll be seeing some of them in Season One, including Chantal (Daisy Badger) and Zelda (Cara Horgan).
Riverdale: Season 6 – August 7
Dope (2015) – August 11
Carmen describes Dope, a coming-of-age drug-heist comedy set in Inglewood, as “a complete love letter to nerdy ass black kids and the black communities we grew up in.” And while Kiersey Clemons’ queer character’s queerness isn’t at the center of the story, it doesn’t really matter because the movie is simply so good.
Never Have I Ever: Season 3 – August 12
Dev returns to school with a very popular boyfriend and everybody has feelings about it. I personally have feelings about a production still of non-binary actor Terry Hu looking absolutely fantastic in episode 308. What will happen with our lesbian character Fabiola? Good question, and it seems that watching the show is our best avenue to get an answer.
Echoes: Limited Series – August 19th
Can Karen Robinson, Ali Stroker, Rosanny Zayas and Matt Bomer all come together to be in a television show in which nothing gay happens? Let’s find out in this creepy limited series about twin sisters who’ve shared their life until one of them disappears, throwing their weird little existence into DISARRAY. Even though to be honest films where one person is playing both parts of a set of twins for some reason stress me out.
Disobedience (2017) – August 26
This lesbian romantic drama about the secret relationship between two Orthodox Jewish women, played by Rachel McAdams and Rachel Weisz, is iconic for the spitplay. You know what I mean.
Peacock’s Offerings To the LGBTQ+ Gods In August 2022
They/Them (2022) – August 5
The title of this horror film struck fear in everybody’s hearts before anybody even had a chance to watch it, but now it has closed Outfest and is popping up on Peacock. Kevin Bacon and Carrie Preston are a couple running a Christian “gay conversion therapy” camp in a remote area, where a group of LGBTQ+ kids, including characters played by queer and trans actors like Theo Germaine, Quei Tann, Noëlle Cameron, Monique Kim and Destiny Freeman; find themselves facing off with a mysterious killer. “Audiences can expect a frightening, thrilling movie,” writer John Logan told Deadline, “but even more so, it’s a story about queer empowerment and about seven queer kids who are heroes, which is something we don’t see a lot and we really don’t see a lot in the horror genre.”
The Undeclared War: Season One – August 18
This British thriller, set in a post-pandemic 2024 in the run-up to a general election, finds a leading team of analysts working to fend off a cyberattack on the country’s electoral system. Saara Parvan (Hannah Khalique), a student working in the malware department, ends up at the center of this escalating data war with Russia and also at the center of a LESBIAN SUBPLOT
Hulu’s Lesbian and Queer Characters for August 2022
Black Swan (2010) – August 1
This is an important film about a mother who yells at her tiny daughter Natalie Portman who grows wings maybe out of her shoulder-blades and has to turn around again and again and be a better ballerina, and at some point something sexual happens with MIla Kunis.
Reservation Dogs: Season 2 Premiere – August 3
When Season One of this series created by an incredible team of Indigenous people including lots of queer people ended, Jackie (queer actor Elva Guerra) and Elora (queer activist Devery Jacobs) ended up heading out to California on their own, leaving Willie Jack, Cheese and Bear behind on the reservation, and it picks up with the crew separated on these divergent paths. Devery Jacobs joined the writing team this season and told Entertainment Weekly that she sees “an inherent queerness in Reservation Dogs that she’s noticed the LGBTQ community picking up on.” TBD if anything explicitly queer will happen, but Willie Jack being asked if she has a boyfriend or a girlfriend in the trailer is promising.
Hotties: Season One – August 16
This dating competition drops a bunch of hot singles on blind dates in food trucks? In the middle of the desert? While Jade Catta-Preta watches them on an iPad from a trailer and makes comments? And then the couples battle to cook up “date night worthy dishes” while also being subjected to “extreme spicy food challenges.” Some of these couples will indeed be queer, I saw it with my own eyes in the trailer. I just want to say, I would have loved to be a fly on the wall of this pitch meeting.
Disobedience (2017) – August 25
Netflix gets Disobedience, Hulu gets Disobedience, we all get Disobedience!
Paramount Plus+ July 2022
Star Trek Lower Decks: Season 3 Premiere – August 25
This animated comedy follows the characters aboard the least important ship in the galaxy, with a special focus on “lower-deckers.” Amongst these characters are Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome), a pansexual rebel who serves as Ensign on the Cerritos and gets romantically involved with her former frenemy Jen Sh’reyan (Lauren Lapkus). Heather wrote of the show: “It’s smart, but most importantly: it’s hilarious.”
Apple TV LGBTQ+ Content for August 2022
See: Season 3 Premiere – August 26
See is set in a post-apocalyptic dystopia in a distant future where, after a virus wiped out almost the entire population several centuries ago, those remaining alive lost their sense of sight. But then!!! A tribe believes that two of its children have the mythical power to see! Now we are at Season Three, and I know the exact same amount of information about this program as I did in Season One (nothing). There are two queer characters: Haniwa (Nesta Cooper) and Wren (Eden Epstein).
Disney+ Programming for LGBTQ+ in August 2022
Lightyear (2022) – August 3
In Toy Story, Andy gets a toy, Buzz Lightyear, from his favorite movie. Lightyear is that movie, and there sure is a queer family in it! “It’s so refreshing to feel energized by queer representation in mainstream animation, particularly Disney and Pixar,” wrote Em in her review. “Instead of writing a critique or piece about only seeing a few seconds of one couple in passing, I’m able to write about an entire universe of people loving and looking up to people like me.”
AMC+ Pulling Out the Gay Spots in August 2022
Kevin Can F**ck Himself: Season 2 – August 22
Heather described season one of Kevin Can F**ck Himself like this: “What if Thelma and Louise fell in big canonical bisexual love while engaging in a misandrist bender with all roads leading to a murdered husband? Now you have my full and undivided attention!” In its second and final season, the gals need a new plan now that the original plan to murder
HBO Max’s LGBTQ+ Content for Gals, Gays and Theys in August 2022
Industry: Season Two – August 1
This show about the dramatic finance world as seen through the eyes of newcomer Harper (Myha’la Herrold) had like one minute of a predatory lesbian in its first season, and now it returns with a trailer that really seems to present a highly homoerotic situation between Yasmin (Marisa Abela) and her new mentor, Celeste Pacquet (Katrine de Candole). How will this pan out? I likely will find the answer to this question eventually and then either delete or reinforce this blurb.
50 Bananpants Moments the New “Pretty Little Liars” Will Never Be Able to Recreate
HBO Max’s Pretty Little Liars spin-off/reboot, Original Sin, lands this Thursday. It’s going to be queer! Riese sussed out the details in July’s streaming guide: “Trans actor Jordan Gonzalez plays trans character Ash, the head of the school’s LGBTQIA+ group and the love interest of main character Minnie (Maria Pyles), a queer teen who escapes her childhood trauma by engaging in virtual worlds. Lea Salonga plays Minne’s gay Mom and Kim Berrios Lin plays her other Mom!”
As excited as I am for a whole new generation of real life queers to be creeped out by a whole new generation of fictional queers, I know in my heart the first series can never be topped. Yes, it let us down in the end — but there were truly miraculous totally bananpants moments that will never be recreated. Here are 50 of them.
1. The time A put bees in Ella Montgomery’s car. Not just in the car, though. INSIDE THE AIR CONDITIONING VENTS. They didn’t come flying out until the car was on and the doors were locked.
2. Jason DiLaurentis getting an entirely new face and no one ever even mentioning it.
3. “Don’t be scared, Spence. We’re all family here. Some more than others.” (You know, because of when Spencer got the hots for New Face Jason and then found out he was her BROTHER.)
4. The SNAKE that attacked Spencer in a BOUTIQUE DRESSING ROOM and which CeCe Drake BEAT TO DEATH with a MANNEQUIN LEG.
5. Tippi the Bird, Alison’s former grey parrot, who sang a phone number as a clue. The phone number went to a landline in the attic of a sorority house where the witch lived who pulled Alison from her grave the night her own mother buried her alive.
6. Alison stayed alive because she was good at “holding her breath,” something the Liars casually mentioned when remembering the summer she disappeared. “Remember how good she got at holding her breath?”
7. When Emily had to kill her second dead girlfriend’s pretend cousin on top of a lighthouse.
8. When she reminded people of this by literally saying “You may have heard I killed a guy.”
9. The absolutely nonsensical literary references. “Hey Em, you weren’t the only one with great expectations. Check it out. Xoxo.” And “Do it right. I’ll be watching. Just like Tom Sawyer.” And “You can read East of Eden over the weekend for extra credit!” And the literal glasses of Dr. TJ Eckleberg.
10. The fact that Alison got her PILOT’S LICENSE and flew a whole entire plane around the country both before and after she died. Oftentimes while wearing a mask of her own face over her regular face.
11. My god, the masks.
12. One Halloween, Ashley Marin was visited by twin ghosts who may or may not have been the little dead DiLaurentises before they were resurrected.
13. Also on Halloween, on a train, Aria met Adam Lambert and then got locked in a box with Officer Garrett’s corpse. It was a school trip.
14. One casual evening, A drove a whole entire car into Emily’s living room.
15. The time A made Hanna eat a whole box of pig-shaped cupcakes while texting her about her sweet tooth and “OINK! OINK!”
16, And then the time Hanna’s literal tooth had a tiny piece of paper rolled up and sealed inside it, all, “I told you, dead girls can’t smile. Stop looking.”
17. Act Normal, Bitch — the motto A flashed up on the marquee in Rosewood High school the night the building came to life and tried to murder Emily, before her dad scaled a wall, climbed in a window, and saved her.
18. “DEAD GIRLS CAN’T SMILE.” (The note from A that came with the NECKLACE MADE OF HUMAN TEETH that supposedly belonged to Alison, her dead ex-girlfriend.)
19. The fact that there were one million barns within driving distance of Rosewood, PA.
20. The fact that every teen was constantly getting murdered and buried in the DiLaurentis’ backyard, but their parents kept going out of town and leaving the home alone anyway.
21. That time A buried a pair of boots that looked like the Liars’ therapist’s boots, and had them digging frantically to save her life (right outside of a barn) — but actually it was just the boots. No therapist was attached to them.
22. CAMP MONA.
23. The way Emily could never be horny in peace! “Hey Em! I’ve been replaced. You’ve found another friend to kiss.” “Did you get a goodnight kiss? Here’s one from me. Xo…” “Now I know TWO secrets. Hanna got dissed…and Emily got KISSED!”
24. Before the show started, the Liars literally blinded one of their classmates. At one point, she got an entirely new pair of eyeballs and could see again. But then those eyes also were sabotaged by the Liars.
25. Ali wore the same dress to her mom’s funeral that her mom wore to her funeral, which does make a weird kind of sense due to them both being buried IN THE SAME BACKYARD GRAVE.
26. At one point, Caleb was living in the literal walls of Rosewood High because he didn’t have anywhere else to go.
27. Which, frankly, is still not as creepy as the place Mona Vanderwaal was choosing to hang out. A place she affectionately referred to as her “lair.”
28. Ravneswood.
28. The time Spencer stole some Cheetos from Hanna’s purse to bribe a raccoon.
29. NO ONE EVER TURNED ON THE LIGHTS IN ANY ROOM THEY ENTERED!
30. “Call off your techno-boy-toy or I tell the cops what your mom keeps in the lasagna box.” (You know, for when your mom robs the bank she works at and stashes the money in the pasta in your pantry.)
31. “What will you do when the rest of me comes out of the grave?” is the message A sent to Spencer to let her know the wedding dress belt (?) she was wearing while running around in the woods getting caught in bear traps was held together with Alison’s dead finger bones.
32. One time, Emily and Aria went into the woods in the middle of the night to break into the cabin of a man whose literal job was making creepy masks — which he did alone, in the woods, okay — and to buy Aria some time to “investigate,” Emily gave the mask man her perfect face.
33. Every single outfit Aria ever wore.
34. After running under Hanna with her car at her own birthday party, Mona — as A — sneaked into the hospital and signed her cast “my bad.”
35. #PoorEzra, a hashtag Freeform tried to make happen for “poor Ezra,” a man who seduced a teenage girl to get information to write his true crime novel about the disappearance of this whole other teenage girl he had also seduced.
36. #PoorEzra’s book deal.
37. This dance.
38. Alison suggesting there was such a thing as “liking Beyonce too much.”
39. The greatest reveal in the entire series history was when Ezra sent Aria to town to buy a can of chickpeas — and after she left, he opened up the kitchen cabinet, and the music went completely ham, because sitting there, on the shelf, right at eye level was A CAN OF CHICKPEAS.
40. The main thing the Liars kept getting arrested for was owning shovels.
41. The time Nana Marin sang the National Anthem at field day. (Spencer: “Why is your grandmother singing?” Hanna: “BECAUSE SHE CAN.”)
42. So many dolls. Dolls with keys hidden in their heads, dolls wearing little Alison masks, dolls with clues in their stuffing, dolls getting their hair brushed in the basement of the definitely up-to-code town insane asylum, dolls that looked like Bratz of each individual Liar, dolls in bedrooms, and dolls in shops, and dolls in lairs, and…
43. The off-the-cuff code-language Mona made up and used to communicate with the Liars while brushing her asylum dolls’ hair. Miss Aria You’re a Killer Not Ezra’s Wife. MAYA KNEW!
44. Jessica DiLaurentis adopted a dog who dug up her hand that time she got buried in Ali’s old grave in the backyard.
45. One time, while on a boat in the middle of the night in the middle of the lake, Hanna started worrying Lucas was A, so she threw him overboard and beat him to death with an oar.
46. The time Aria killed Shana by pushing her off a two-foot tall stage.
47. Shana’s funeral video that included edits for viewing the body from different angles.
48. “Bitch chipped us” is the thing Spencer said when she realized A had, quite literally, put chips in their brains.
49. The time Noel Kahn, that jokester, tripped over his ax and cut off his own head.
50. British Spencer (??) turned Wren’s ashes into a diamond (???) after she killed him (????) and now she wears him around her neck always.
What’s New and Gay To Stream in July 2022
Well my friends it is now July, when all the corporations can finally deactivate their rainbow gradients and move forward with heterosexual revelry. Yet we remain thirsty every month of the year for lesbian, bisexual, queer and trans characters on our streaming television screams — but will Netflix, Hulu, Peacock, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max, Paramount+ and Disney+ deliver? Or did they exhaust their gay wings flapping so hard in June? Let’s find out!
HBO Max’s LGBTQ+ Content for Gals, Gays and Theys in July 2022
Rap Sh*t: Season One Premiere – July 21
Following two estranged best friends who reunite and deicide to form a rap group, this new show from Issa Rae is co-stars queer non-binary actor Aida Osman, who’s also the Executive Story Editor! Bisexual actress Jonica Blu Booth plays Chastity, a character who I am certain is as gay as the day is long or I will quit my job??? But officially all we know about her character is that Chastity is a “sex work manager” who calls herself “The Duke of Miami.”
Harley Quinn: Season 3 – July 28
Harley and Poison Ivy are finally GFFs and BFFs forever in the only animated series I have watched in full as an adult! In Season 3, Harley and Poison Ivy wrap up their ‘Eat. Bang! Kill. Tour” and return to Gotham as the new DC villany power couple. Together they aim to become the best Harlivy possible and work towards Ivy’s goal of turning Gotham into an Eden.
Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin: Season One – July 28
The latest entry in the PLL franchise takes place in the blue-collar town of Milwood, where twenty years ago, a series of tragic events almost ripped the town apart. Now, a new set of Liars are being tormented by an A-ish figure to pay for their parents’ secret sins and their own. Trans actor Jordan Gonzalez plays trans character Ash, the head of the school’s LGBTQIA+ group and the love interest of main character Minnie (Maria Pyles), a queer teen who escapes her childhood trauma by engaging in virtual worlds. Lea Salonga plays Minne’s gay Mom and Kim Berrios Lin plays her other Mom!
Amazon Prime Video’s LGBTQ+ Movies and TV Shows for July 2022
Jennifer’s Body (2009) – July 1
“This film explores some of my favorite themes all in one glossy, campy, self-aware package: misandry, women being extremely gay together, principled revenge, and the triumph of aught culture,” wrote Erin Sullivan in her favorable review of this vaguely queer Megan Fox / Amanda Seyfriend vehicle.
1UP (2022) – July 15
In this effort from Buzzfeed Studios, Vivian “V” Lee (Paris Berelc) is a competitive gamer on video game scholarship (?!) to Barrett University, where, frustrated by the overconfident men on her gaming team (?!) The Betas, she makes the bold choice to quit and start her own girl power squad, joined by her best friend Sloane (Hari Nef) and with a little help from coach Parker (Ruby Rose). Ruby Rose has a shaved head, a motorcycle jacket and a sassy young son in the trailer. (Fun fact: their role was originally cast with Elliot Page, who stepped back from the project after coming out as a trans man because the role was written as a queer woman character.)
Anything’s Possible (2022) – July 22
Billy Porter’s exuberant LGBTQ+ rom-com follows Kelsa (newcomer Eva Reign), a confident Black trans high school student, through her senior year and her first big romance with her cutie classmate Khal. Amazon Prime describes it as a “romance that showcases the joy, tenderness, and pain of young love” and I am inclined to believe them in this instance!!!
Paper Girls: Season One – July 29
Paper Girls, based on the wildly popular critically acclaimed comic book series that debuted in 2015 (YES I OWN A COPY OF ISSUE #1), opens in 1988 when a group of 12-year-old girls discover a time machine on their paper route and are thrust into the future to confront their future selves (and in two cases, their queerness). I AM SO EXCITED 4 THIS TO HAPPEN
Hulu’s Lesbian and Queer Characters for July 2022
Milk (2008) – July 1
This biopic telling the story of the legendary gay rights activist and politician Harvey Milk has a queer female character, Anne Kronenberg, played by Allison Pill. I saw this film in the theater and cried like a baby!
Killing Eve: Season Four – July 10
The final season of Killing Eve had a very controversial ending, perhaps you heard??? Anyhow, Season Four also provided additional opportunities to witness the erotic cat-and-mouse game played by Eve and Villanelle set against the background of some international spy assassin government situation that nobody cares about anymore.
Not Okay (2022) – July 29
Not Okay, written and directed by multi-talented queer Quinn Shephard, stars Zoey Deutch as Danni Sanders, an aspiring influencer who pretends to have lived through a Paris terrorist attack to earn a social media following. Shephard’s girlfriend, Nadia Alexander, is playing “Harper,” which I am confident is a gay character because if you’re in your girlfriend’s movie and the character is named Harper then surprise, you’re gay!
Paramount Plus+ July 2022
The Only (2022) – July 12
This documentary about Black gay goalkeeper legend Briana Scurry honors her legacy and her impact on women’s sports and gives a glimpse at what she was silently enduring behind the scenes.
Peacock’s Offerings To the LGBTQ+ Gods In July 2022
Fried Green Tomatoes (1991) – July 1
This de-gayed adaptation of the Fannie Flagg novel Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe is the story of iconic tomboy Idgie Threadgoode who develops a “close friendship” with her dead brother’s ex-girlfirend Ruth, who Idgie extracts from her abusive relationship and brings into a life together running the Whistle Stop Cafe.
A Simple Favor (2018) – July 1
When I walked out of the theater after seeing A Simple Favor I declared it the most significant cinematic experience of my life and although I was being hyperbolic and I’m not even sure if it’s technically a good movie, I will defend it with my life!!!! Anyhow Blake Lively wears a 7-piece suit and is bisexual and Anna Kendrick is a mommy vlogger and there is a MYSTERY with lots of TWISTS!!!!
Disney+ LGBTQ+ Content for July 2022
High School Musical: Season Three Premiere – July 27
High School Musical: The Series is transporting the whole gang to Camp Shallow Lake for two weeks of fun in the sun and a big summer musical production of “Frozen.” Relevant to all of us here is that gay icon / former bowtie enthusiast JoJo Siwa will be joining the cast and is holding hands with a girl in the preview.
Netflix’s Queer Content for July 2022
Stranger Things 4 – July 1
Stranger Things 4 is nearly twice the runtime of any previous season, which means that it had to be broken into two parts — the first dropped over Memorial Day Weekend, and the second part comes out over July 4th Weekend. We’ll see noted 80s teen lesbian Robin team up with the rest of the nerds of Hawkins to battle the Upside Down and hopefully make a little time for her band crush, Vickie, while she’s at it.
What’s New and Gay To Stream in June 2022
It’s June, aka Pride Month, and that means it’s time for corporations to show us some RESPECT as a PEOPLE by delivering queer, bisexual, lesbian and otherwise interesting content to our televisions! Many networks are celebrating by re-organizing their websites to remind us that they have some queer movies available while others are debuting brand new gay content! What will the gays find on Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max, Peacock, Amazon Prime Video, IFC+, AMC+, Discovery+ and more?
Netflix’s LGBT Pride 2022 Collection:
Stand Out: An LGBTQ+ Celebration – June 9
Hosted by Bob the Drag Queen and Billy Eichner and studded with surprise stars introducing their funny friends (e.g., Lily Tomlin, Sarah Paulson and Lena Waithe), this comedy show featured queer women and trans comics like Tig Notaro, Patti Harrison, Gina Yashere, Margaret Cho, Judy Gold, Patti Harrison, Mae Martin, River Butcher and Sandra Bernhard. I was at this show so I can attest it was indeed very good and did indeed feel like the largest-ever gathering of LGBTQ+ comics! In fact, so many people gathered for it that it ran super long and the final talent of the night — Rosie O’Donnell and Wanda Sykes — only got a few minutes each. Anyhow it was funny you should watch it!
First Kill: Season One – June 10
This Pride Month we are invited to celebrate lesbian vampires in this drama in which teenager vampire Juliette must make her first kill to take her place among a powerful vampire family and sets her sights on a new girl in town, Calliope — but then Calliope turns out to be a vampire hunter from a celebrated slayer family and then also Juliette gets a crush!
Vice (2018) – June 10
This story about how Dick Cheney pulled all the strings in the Bush administration features Lily Rabe as Cheney’s lesbian daughter Liz.
Jane Fonda & Lily Tomlin: Ladies Night Live – June 14th
Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda introduce an all-female lineup of comedians.
Iron Chef: Quest For An Iron Legend – June 15
Wow! The legendary Iron Chef series promises a REBIRTH with a “supersized approach to the ground-breaking culinary competition that started it all.” Promising to be the toughest culinary challenge a chef will ever experience, we will be assisted in this game by the co-hosting presence of our beloved Kristen Kish.
Dead End: Paranormal Park (Season 1) – June 16
Based on the horror-comedy graphic novels Deadendia, this animated series follows the adventures of Barney, a trans teen who, along with his queer friend Norma and Pugsley the magical demon-possessed talking dog, must “balance their summer jobs at the local theme park haunted house while battling the totally real supernatural forces that dwell within it.”
Umbrella Academy: Season 3 – June 22
The networks’ biggest superhero series has promised its biggest season yet as our heroes face off against the Sparrows. Elliot Page’s character will be coming out as trans with the name Viktor Hargreeves.
Charmed (Season 4) – June 18
Grey’s Anatomy (Season 18) – June 25
Beauty (2022) – June 29
Set in 1980s New Jersey and written and co-produced by Lena Waithe, Beauty follows a young Black singer (Gracie Marie Bradley) on the brink of a promising career who finds herself torn between a domineering family, industry pressures and her love for her girlfriend, Jasmine. Niecy Nash is in it!
Peacock’s June 2022 Shows and Movies For Girls, Gays and Theys
But I’m a Cheerleader (1999) – June 1
If you haven’t seen the #1 lesbian movie of all time, which tells the story of a lesbian cheerleader sent to campy gay conversion camp where she is confronted with the temptation of Clea Duvall and the leadership of RuPaul, then this is your big chance!
The Kids Are All Right (2010) – June 1
The kids of these lesbian Moms are alright but the Moms are not because one of them has a little affair with her child’s donor, sending everything into tumult.
Pitch Perfect (2012) – June 1
There is in fact a lesbian character in this film about a competitive college a-capella group that aggressively recruits Anna Kendrick to improve their team and then there is a sing-off.
Pride (2014) – June 1
Based on the true story of a group of U.K. gay activists who work to help miners during the summer 1984 strike of the National Union of Mineworkers.
Queer as Folk UK (Seasons 1-2) – June 1
If you want to catch up on the original original Queer as Folk — the U.K. edition — it appears you can do so!
Queer as Folk: Season 1, Episodes 1-8 – June 9
I am SO VERY EXCITED for this program because I’m a huge fan of the original U.S. series and the cast of the reboot is just fantastic! Set in New Orleans, most of the characters are gay men, but the story also includes nonbinary actor CG as non-binary character Shar, a professor “navigating the rocky transition from punk to parenthood” and trans actress Jesse James Keitel as Ruthie, CG’s partner and a “semi-reformed party girl who is struggling to grow up.” Juliette Lewis appears as the supportive Mom.
Rutherford Falls: Season 2 – June 16
As Season 2 opens we find Reagan (Jana Schmieding) struggling with a heavy workload at the Heritage Museum, Minishonka casino CEO Terry (Michael Greyeyes) facing new challenges as his town is revamped into a Colonial-themed tourist experience and Nathan (Ed Helms) considering a run for mayor. Non-binary actor Jesse Leigh returns as Nathan’s non-binary assistant Bobbie Yang. “We never get to be funny and explore character in their specific situations—Native characters and their specific experiences,” the showrunner told Sunset about the critically acclaimed series. “It was really fun to just see where these characters wanted to go.”
HBO Max’s Offerings to the Homosexuals, Bisexuals, Pansexuals Etc in the Month of June 2022
Pride-Themed Shortform Content Series – June 1
Produced by Human by Orientation, this series will include custom short-form content that amplifies the voices of HBO Max’s LGBTQ+ talent, such as Hacks’ Hannah Einbinder, “Somebody Somewhere’s” Murray Hill and and “We’re Here’s” Bob the Drag Queen, Shangela, and Eureka. The featured content will include: Queerness in Conversation, “Culture Closeups,” “Serving Lewks,” and “Get Ready With Me.”
How to Survive a Plague (2012) – June 1
This award-winning documentary traces the evolution of HIV/AIDS activist group ACT UP, using interviews and culling from hours of footage captured by activists during the organization’s most vital years.
Life Partners (2014) – June 1
This very cute little film stars Leighton Meester as Sasha, the lesbian in a co-dependent relationship with her best friend Paige (Gillian Jacobs) who begins to feel a little adrift when Paige gets a serious boyfriend. Also worth noting are Beth Dover and Gabourey Sidibe as Sasha’s lesbian friends and a little cameo by Kate McKinnon.
Naomi (Season 1) – June 1
Irma Vep: Limited Series Premiere – June 6
Okay so; Oliver Assayas (he of “Clouds of Sils Maria” and “Personal Shopper”) fame made Irma Vep in 1996, a film about a French director remaking Les Vampires. Now in 2022 he has made Irma Vep, a limited series about a French director remaking Les Vampires. This one stars Alicia Vikander as Mira, a Hollywood star on a promotional tour for her latest superhero movie who’s got her heart set on this Les Vampires project and is seeking a distraction from the understandably preoccupying situation of her ex-girlfriend/ex-assistant recently daring to get married to somebody else. Carrie Brownstein plays Mira’s agent!
The Janes (2022) – June 9
This incredibly timely documentary tells the story of a group of college-age activists who created a secret underground network to provide abortion access to those who needed it in Chicago, eventually becoming the subject of a widely publicized raid. I am just assuming that there were lesbians involved in this somehow.
Summer Camp Island: Season 6 Premiere – June 9
Oscar & Hedgehock navigate the mysteries and wonders of a magic sleep-away camp “where camp counselors are popular girl witches, horses become unicorns, and monsters live under the bed.” Alia Shawkat voices Blanche and Fortune Feimster voices Ava. Blanche and Ava are girlfriends!
Westworld: Season 4 Premiere – June 26
We don’t know much about the fourth season of Westworld because they don’t want us to, but they really seem to be a HOTSPOT for queer actresses! This year Ariana DeBose is joining Evan Rachel Wood and Tessa Thompson. It will be a “dark odyssey about the fate of sentient life on earth” and will include an amusement park modeled after a concept of the 1930s American mafia.
LGBTQ+ Shows and Movies on Hulu for June 2022
Glee (Complete Series) – June 1
Fire Island (2022) – June 3
This modern riff on Pride & Prejudice brings a stellar cast of gay actors to Fire Island, most notably our beloved Bowen Yang, who plays Howie, the best friend of lead character Noah (Joel Kim Booster) with whom they are spending a week at the beach house owned by Erin (Margaret Cho), the film’s token queer woman. So far it’s gotten great reviews and looks really fun!
Vida: Seasons 1-2: June 7
If you never saw this show ’cause you had Starz, now’s your chance! It’s absolutely one of the best queer shows of all time and it burned so brightly before ending far too soon.
The Los Angeles Pride Parade – June 12
KABC’s Ellen Leyva, Karl Schmid, Christiane Cordero and Eric Resendiz will host a livestream of the parade on Sunday, which’ll feature CELEBRITY GUESTS, 130 parade floats, marchers, trucks, exotic cars, twirlers, performers and more. The livestream will be available to all subscribers for 30 days.
Love, Victor: Season 3 Complete Series – June 15th
The final season of Love, Victor, also available on Disney+, and in the preview we see Lake revealing to Felix and Pilar that she is dating Lucy now. The cliffhanger upon which Victor left us hanging — will he choose Benji or Rahim??! — will be revealed.
NYC Pride March Livestream – June 26
WABC’s Ken Rosato, Lauren Glassberg and Sam Champion will host this livestream of the NYC Pride Parade, Grand Marshalled by Punkie Johnson, Ts Madison, trans athlete Schuyler Bailar, ACLU attorney Chase Strangio and Okra Project Executive Director Dominique Morgan. The show will also be available to all subscribers for 30 days after the livestream.
Wildhood (2021) – June 24
Set in a rural east-coast trailer park, two-spirit Mi’kmaw teenager Link (Phillip Lewitski) lives with his abusive father and younger half-brother Travis (Avery Winters-Anthony). They hit the road after discovering Link’s Mi’kmaw mother could still be alive, along the way meeting Pasmay (Joshua Odjick), a pow-wow dancer who is immediately attracted to Link.
Only Murders in the Building: Season 2 Premiere – June 28
One of last year’s most surprisingly delightful and compelling new programs returns after a cliffhanger that saw our beloved Mabel, Charles and Oliver framed for murder. Noted menace to society / queer lothario Cara Delevingne will be joining the cast as Alice, “a sophisticated art world insider who becomes enmeshed in the mystery” and, most relevant to our interests here,
Lesbian, Queer and Bisexual Content on Amazon Prime Video in June 2022
Black Swan (2010) – June 1
This is a ballet movie and it is very intense and a lot of psychological things happen and then there is this Natalie Portman / Mila Kunis situation that I think made a real impact on us all as a culture.
The Boys: Season 3 – June 3
In Season 2, The Boys got meta about lesbian and bisexual representation, with bisexual superhero Queen Maeve finding her sexuality used by her crew as something to capitalize on when her superhero squad was under fire for a lack of diversity. In Season Three, they learn of a new Anti-Supe weapon that sends them crashing into the Seven, thus starting a war.
Fairfax: Season 2 – June 10
This adult animated comedy follows four middle schoolers seeking popularity, clout and individuality within the Hypebeast culture of Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles, where there are daily lines of sneakerheads coveting new releases. One of the four is a queer woman played by Kiersey Clemons!
Apple TV’s June Items For Lesbians and Bisexuals
For All Mankind: Season 3 Premiere – June 10
Every season of For All Mankind does at time jump, and Season 3 will land us in the 1990s with a charismatic visionary determined to pioneer a multi-national mission to Mars. Lesbian character Ellen Waverly (Jodi Balfour) will find herself running for Senate in Texas.
Loot: Season One Premiere – June 24
A billionaire (played by Maya Rudolph) is betrayed by her husband and responds by acting out in public, and the tabloid coverage that ensues leads her to realize she’s got a charity in her name and her decisions are giving her good work a bad name, thus inspiring her to reform herself and give back! The supervisor of her charity, Sofia Salinas, is played by queer trans actress MJ Rodriguez and her devoted assistant Nicholas is played by gay actor Joel Kim Booster.
Discovery+ Getting Into the Gay Game in June 2022
The Book of Queer: Limited Series Premiere – June 1
This five-episode series celebrates and recognizes the history of the LGBTQ+ community, hosted by queer faves like Dominique Jackson, Alex Newell and Margaret Cho, supported by an entirely queer ensemble cast recreating some of history’s most notable moments.
Starz Original Queer Offerings for June 2022
P-Valley: Season 2 Premiere – June 3
Five months after P-Valley was threatened with the possibility of having to close its doors, Season Two explores the tense partnership between Autumn and non-binary character Uncle Clifford, who bought The Pynk from Autumn. This saved the dancers’ jobs, but new leadership brings new drama!
Showtime’s LGBTQ+ Plan for June 2022
The Chi: Season 5 Premiere – June 24th
Season Five will “delve deeply into the many joys and complications of Black love: relationships, children, career, community and self,” and we’ll find Nina and Dre working at rebuilding their union while also figuring out how best to support Lynae,
IFC+ and AMC+ Coming Together in a Gay Way for June 2022
Slo Pitch: Season 2 Premiere – June 1
This Canadian queer mockumentary webseries from a majority LGBTQ+ cast and creative team tells the story of The Brovaries, an underachieving, beer league softball team of queer and/or non-binary athletes, and debuted on OUTtvgo in Canada in 2020. You can stream Season One online on IFC+ and AMC+ and catch the premiere of Season 2 on June 1st!
Top Five Queer Comedy Sketches to Celebrate A Black Lady Sketch Show’s Best and Gayest Season
The first season of A Black Lady Sketch Show was the kind of lightning in a bottle of comedic genius that changes the landscape of everything around it in its wake. The second season of ABLSS walked away with Autostraddle’s Annual Gay Emmy for best comedic series. So it’s hard to imagine how to top that for Season Three.
And yet! AND YET! Last night as I watching the Season Three finale, which opens with a sketch centered on a coming out scene starring bisexual writer and star of ABLSS Ashley Nicole Black, I had the kind of slow realization that you’re almost embarrassed to say it took you so long to realize in public. Then another sketch starred Shangela and Kallen Allen. And I knew, Season Three wasn’t just the smartest and funniest season of A Black Lady Sketch Show, a declaration of its prime — it was also hands down, the gayest.
One of the many small pleasures of ABLSS is how casually and constantly gay it is. There’s an unexpected, well placed strap joke in Season Two that I still quote to myself out of nowhere and spark giggles over to this day. In last night’s season finale, a character offhandedly mentions their girlfriend in yet another third sketch. But it truly shines when it puts queer comedy on the main stage. So with that in mind, I’ve brought together the Top Five Queer Sketches to celebrate Season Three’s victory lap.
Before I take us down the list, may we read from the good book of show creator Robin Thede:
https://twitter.com/robinthede/status/1517178165201936388
Let the church say Amen.
What Up, I’m Three
When I make these types of lists, traditionally I save the best for last. But no. OH NO.
IF you’re about to exit out of my little roundup early, fine. You do you. But watch this first, because it’s the funniest shit I’ve seen in years.
Funeral Ball
“Serving us ‘Oh I’m gonna take all the four corners from the mac n cheese before the family’s even had the chance to eat.’ Honey we’re not in a Golden Corral, we’re in mourning!”
A return to Season One’s epic The Basic Ball, the Funeral Ball is a love letter to the stunts and shows, the pageantry and drama of the Black church and dealing with your family mess while grieving.
Equally Joked
Sometimes you have to let a GOAT do what they do. When you have Wanda Sykes, you give her a microphone and leave the stage.
*Speaking of comedy GOATs, shout out to David Alan Grier as the voice of God, from Detroit to the Heavens, I know that’s right!
Product Purge
“Aht — single file ladies! We go through this every year! I want this line tighter than baby hair on braids.”
You have to wait until the final minute of this four-minute sketch, which I’ll admit was not my favorite of the year, for Mj Rodriguez to make her appearance, but once she does, it’s so worth it.
I know that saying “Mj Rodriguez is far too talented” is a little like saying “water is wet” — but listen, I was just fully unprepared for how funny she’d be???
Loc’d In
When I tell you that I’ve long believed that Raven Symoné is one of the greatest comedic television actors of our generation, with impeccable natural timing, you’re going to say, “Now Carmen. You’re doing too much.”
And fine. YOU can think that.
But when you do a spit take as she enters this scene fully a stud, cocks her head just oh so perfectly to the side, and says “a nigga been pooping in discomfort for years” – don’t be coming back to me.
(The multi-layered smarts of not only ABLSS’ guest stars, but exactly how they use them, is something that really should be studied. It’s such a deep and loving cultural knowledge. In last night’s finale they had Tahj Mowry a.k.a. Smart Guy in a sketch that, like much like Raven’s, has a central conceit of “I cannot believe they brought back a star of my childhood to let them say that on camera” and I rewound it 10 times.)
BONUS MORE RAVEN!! BECAUSE SHE WAS GETTING HER LIFE!!! AND WE SIMPLY LOVE TO SEE IT!
@ravensymone
@ravensymone 1:1. Smh getting my life in the trailer! #lgbt🌈 #switch #🏳️🌈🦾
What’s New and Gay To Stream in May 2022
It’s gonna be May and that means there will be new programming featuring queer women and otherwise identified LGBTQ+ people relevant to your interests all over the television!!! If you’re wondering what television shows and movies about queer, lesbian and bisexual people are coming to Netflix, HBO Max, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Showtime and Peacock then you are in the exactly correct location to find out!
Netflix’s New LGBTQ+ Content of May 2022
Summertime: Season 3 – May 4th
Lesbian character Sofia will be back for the final season of this Italian drama in which everybody has beautiful clear skin and it’s always sunny and there’s the beach and music!
The Circle: Season 4 Premiere – May 4th
This season promises more twists and turns and also hints strongly at the possibility of an appearance by the actual Spice Girls?? More importantly, we have at least one confirmed gay woman — influencer / Harlem Globetrotter Crissa Jackson is in the cast.
Welcome to Eden: Season One – May 6th
This Spanish thriller sees four hot, young and “social media active” people tempted to attend an exclusive party on a secret island wherein things do not turn out as they expected — they find themselves involved in some kind of cultish, highly surveilled human living experiment is being played out. Also, there are girls in bikinis making out in the trailer, so…
New Heights: Season One – May 13th
This Swiss TV show (original title: Neumat) is billed as an “LGBT series” but I don’t speak any of the languages that trailers are available in, so besides knowing that the lead man is definitely gay I am not sure about any lady gays! One of the women in the trailer is a farmer, which seems gay, and the other has very short hair and is putting on makeup in a sad mirror while experiencing some kind of mental breakdown, which also seems gay?
Tully (2018) – May 16th
Following the developing friendship between a pregnat mother of two and her night nanny (played by Mackenzie Davis), Diablo Cody’s Tully stars Charlize Theron as the aforementioned mother who is bisexual although her bisexuality isn’t focal to the film’s plot, she is bisexual.
Stranger Things Volume 4: Part One – May 27th
There will be a big time jump into Season 4 of Netflix’s most robust investment, Stranger Things, which will also revive the team-up of Steve, lesbian character Robin, and Dustin.
Hulu’s Queer and Lesbian Items For May 2022
Grandma (2015) – May 1
Lily Tomlin is Elle, a lesbian poet who gets a visit from her granddaughter who is a teenager and needs an abortion but can’t afford it, thus sending the duo on an all-day hunt for the funds through Elle’s friends and exes.
Saving Face (2004) – May 1
Only one of the best lesbian movies of all time, this sweet romantic comedy from Alice Wu follows a Chines-American surgeon and a ballerina who are very different and yet, if you can believe it, fall in love!
Daytime Divas (Vh1): Complete Series – May 2
This little series only lasted one full season back in 2017 and was based on Star Jones’ memoir of her time on The View — we enjoyed it for its bisexual character Kibby (who was clearly inspired by Lindsay Lohan) and eventually for the Elisabeth Hassleback of the group, Heather, grappling with her child coming out as a trans girl.
Conversations With Friends: Complete Limited Series – May 15
The Hulu series based on the Sally Rooney novel “ follows a set of angsty Irish millennials drawn into complicated romantic and class dynamics.” It’s centered on 21-year-old college student Frances, whose ex-girlfriend Bobbi (Sasha Lane) is still her very best friend with whom she shares all her feelings and performs poetry. At a show they meet Melissa (Jemima Kirke) and her husband Nick — Bobbi gets an open crush on Melissa while Frances’s feelings for Nick lead to an intense secret affair — her first with a man.
Queen Sugar: Complete Season 6 (OWN)
The penultimate season of Queen Sugar addressed the impact COVID had on its community as Nova continued dealing with harassment and abuse from the police as she continues to speak out against political corruption in her community.
LGBTQ Content of Interest From HBO Max in May 2022
The Color Purple (1985) – May 1
Alice Walker’s epistolary novel was de-gayed for this wildly successful Steven Spielberg adaptation starring Danny Glover, Oprah Winfrey, Rae Dawn Chong and Whoopi Goldberg. Goldberg plays Celie, a teenager in rural Georgia with an abusive family who falls for showgirl Shug Avery, her husband’s mistress who Celie nurses back into health.
Frida (2022) – May 1
Salma Hayek got an Oscar nomination for her portrayal of surrealist Mexica artist Frida Kahlo in this biopic mainly focused on her relationship with husband Diego Rivera. Bisexual Kahlo has many affairs with women including Josephine Baker (Karine Plantadit-Bageot) and Tina Modotti (Ashley Judd), who also had an affair with Diego!
Hacks, Max Original Season 2 Premiere – May 12
Deborah Vance and her bisexual accomplice Ava Daniels are heading out on the road with Deborah’s new stand-up act. This was one of the best shows of last year and we simply cannot WAIT for more!! And yes this time we are going to write about it because I finally got everybody else to watch it.
Legendary: Season 3 Premiere – May 19
Beloved bisexual Keke Palmer is taking over for Megan Thee Stallion as a judge for this ballroom competition series, alongside Jameela Jamil, Leiomy Maladonado and Law Roach.
Amazon Prime Video Queer Women of May 2022
Tangerine (2015) – May 1
The legendarily shot-on-an-iPhone film tells the story of a trans sex worker who gets out of jail, immediately meets up with her friend (and fellow sex worker) Alexandra and then discovers her boyfriend / pimp has been cheating on her. They set out to track him down on Christmas Eve.
The Wilds: Season Two – May 6
This program made a choice for its second season that does zap some of its initial appeal — they added boys to a cast that was just girls! Another group of teens (boys) will also find themselves stranded on an island after passing out on a plane that was allegedly taking them to a special retreat. But our girls will still be there and also crossing paths with the fellows, including our OTP Toni and Shelby!
Lovestruck High: Season One – May 18th
This reality television show narrated by esteemed bicon Lindsay Lohan is throwing together a bunch of single adults in a fake high school situation for “a full term of love, lust and drama.” It appears to contain a healthy portion of queer people so I am really excited for this one ’cause not since Are You The One Season 8 have we gotten something like this! Somehow categorizations like jocks, queen bees, nerds, etc will be … involved? IDK, I’m genuinely excited.
Kick Like Tayla (2022) – May 27th
This documentary focuses on Tayla Harris, an Australian athlete who is both a successful boxer and a player in the NAB AFL Women’s Competition for the Carlton Football Club — looking at “what makes Tayla tick, her love of all sports including boxing and football, the impacts of social media, cyber-bullying, and sexism.” Perhaps also at some point they will mention that she is gay!
Peacock’s Queer, Lesbian and Bisexual Content May 2022
Milk (2008) – May 1
This biopic about the life of activist Harvey Milk that made me cry like a baby features Alison Pill as bisexual activist Anne Kronenberg
Girls5Eva: Season 2 Premiere – May 5
In Season 2 the ladies will be attempting to record a full ablum together on their own terms. Paula Pell is returning as Gloria and she is making out with another woman on a sofa in the trailer, so. The first three episodes debut on May 5th.
Showtime’s Queer Women of May 2022
Couples Therapy Season 3 Premiere – May 13th
A lesbian couple is amongst those getting therapized this season when a mother of two must learn to hear her partner’s cries for help or risk losing her altogether.
What’s New and Gay To Stream in April 2022
April showers bring one thing: lesbian, bisexual, queer and trans women and non-binary characters on our television sets! After the most dismal month of queer content on record (March 2022), I am pleased to report that there is promise on the horizon! Here’s what’s streaming with LGBTQ+ characters this fine season!
LGBTQ+ Netflix Movies and TV Shows for April 2022
Elite: Season 5 – April 8
Season 4 of Elite finally delivered the lesbian storyline we’d been waiting for, so we can’t wait to see what Season 5 has in store for our favorite high school students who live dangerous lives of crime. In the Season 5 trailer, Rebe says to Mencía, “sometimes I feel like we’re not meant to be together, even though we are committed” and then also says “I really love you” and then in another part of the trailer you see Rebe making out with another girl!!! SO GET READY FOR DRAMA
Hard Cell: Season One – April 12
A British documentary-style comedy set in a female prison starring Catherine Tate, who plays multiple characters including Laura Willis, the Governor, a former event planner determined to transform the prison and the women under her care. Due to its setting (women’s prison), I am assuming there will be lesbians, otherwise what are we doing here as people really.
Van Helsing: Season Five (Syfy) – April 16
SyFy’s reimagining of Dracula, in which vamps and humans must work together to survive, centers on Vanessa Helsing, the (bisexual) daughter of famed vampire hunter Abraham Van Helsing. This show is apparently gay enough to have upset a large portion of Reddit.
Russian Doll: Season 2 – April 20th
In Season 2, Nadia and Alan have escaped their original time loop and together as a family we have jumped four years into the future, where the duo find themselves caught up in a different kind of time loop that enables them to “discover a fate even worse than endless death” (idk, life???) through a portal in an iconic Manhattan location. According to Entertainment Weekly, Rebecca Henderson, who played a lesbian character, is returning to the cast and also Schitt’s Creek‘s Annie Murphy is joining it.
Heartstopper: Season One – April 22
This British LGBTQ+ romantic comedy series focused on young gay introspective overthinker Charlie and his crush, sensitive athlete Nick (Kit Connor), is based on a webcomic/graphic novel by 27-year-old aromantic asexual writer Alice Oseman, who oversaw the production. According to The Guardian, Heartstopper “is as wholesome and uplifting as the headline-grabbing US high-school sensation [Euphoria] is bleak and ridiculously debauched.” Trans TikTok sensation Yasmin Finney plays Elle, one of Charlie’s best friends. Queer couple Tara (Corinna Brown) and Darcy (Kizzy Edgell) are also featured in the story! Everyone is very excited about this one!!!
Grace and Frankie: Season 7B – April 29th
Netflix’s longest-running series will say goodbye this April with the back half of Season Seven. Unfortunately it seems like Grace and Frankie will never live their true fate as girlfriends.
Showtime LGBTQ+ Content for April 2022
The First Lady – April 17
This “revelatory reframing of American leadership through the lens of the First Ladies, delving deep into their personal and political lives” is of particular interest to us here because they are going to actually explore Eleanor Roosevelt’s bisexuality and she will be played by bisexual actress Gillian Anderson! Lily Rabe of American Horror Story fame plays her girlfriend, Lorena Hickok. Lesbian actor Clea Duvall plays Eleanor’s private secretary / personal aide Malvina “Tommy” Thompson with whom Eleanor is also rumored to have been involved. Also Viola Davis stars as Michelle Obama! A BOUNTY OF GIFTS!!!
HBO & HBO Max Stuff for Gals, Gays and Theys in April 2022
Moonshot (2022) – March 31
This little teen rom-com starring Cole Sprouse and Lana Condor as two friends on a rocket ship to Mars also includes the little lesbian story of Celeste (Sunita Deshpande) and Tabby (Cameron Esposito), a lesbian couple who wanna get engaged on Mars. Also, Tabby runs seminars and Q/A sessions on the ship!
A Black Lady Sketch Show: Season 3 Premiere – April 8
Our eternal beloved, The Black Lady Sketch Show, is back for its third season on April 8th and we are prepared to laugh. We’ll finally find out “who or what was responsible for the end of the world and what the fate of the women will be.” Queer comic/writer/actress Ashley Nicole Black is returning as a series regular and guest stars include noted LGBTQs Raven-Symoné, Wanda Sykes and MJ Rodriguez. Robin Theade promises that “the twists this season are huge. Like you’re never going to see where the sketches are going.”
Flight Attendant: Season 2 Premiere – April 21
Our dearest queerest fave Mae Martin will appear on the second season of The Flight Attendant as a flight attendant named Grace St. James. Season 2 finds Cassie Bowden living her best sober life in LA while moonlighting for the CIA and then finding herself entangled in international intrigue after an overseas gig enables her to accidentally witness a murder. Bisexual icon Margaret Cho has also been added to the cast as “Utada.”
Gentleman Jack: Season 2 Premiere – April 25th
Rest assured you will be receiving breathless, constant updates regarding our SCORCHINGLY HOT ANTICIPATION of Season 2 of Gentleman Jack!!!! A newly married Ann & Anne are setting up their lives as a lesbian power couple in Shibden Hall, but also Anne’s ex is lurking all over the place! Furthermore, Anne’s entrepreneurial spirit and unconventional romantic life intimidates the locals and with Halifax on the brink of a revolution, her audacious personality becomes a liability.
Snowpiercer: Season 3 – April 29
This show has some queer stuff in it and a train goes round and round and the snow comes down and down anyhow look out for Season 3!
Hulu’s Content for Lesbian & Bisexuals This Fine April 2022
Boys on the Side (1995) – April 1
Whoopi Goldberg is Jane, a lesbian musician moving from New York to Los Angeles after breaking up with her girlfriend and her band who joins Robin (Mary Louise Parker) and Holly (Drew Barrymore) on a cross-country road trip that gets messy after the women band together to protect Holly from her abusive boyfriend.
The Runaways (2010) – April 1
Kristen Stewart shines as Joan Jett in this sexually tense biopic about the all-girl rock band that made her famous, following Jett and Cherie Currie (Dakota Fanning), two rebellious teens from SoCal, forming The Runaways and changing the game for women in rock ‘n roll.
Woke: Season 2: April 8
Keef Knight finds himself fully inhabiting an “artivist” spotlight with a higher profile and higher expectations. His lesbian pal Ayana (Sasheer Zamata) is dealing with the decline of the Bay Arean and potential eviction while remaining on hand to guide Keef through new opportunities to make change and/or get exploited. Season 2 will continue to “continues to upend Black nerd and activist culture, deftly satirizing with a wink and a smile.” Woke is a really great show you should watch it!!
Crush (2022) – April 29
Starring Rowan Blanchard and Auli’i Cravalho, the hotly-anticipated Crush follows an aspiring young artist who is forced to join her high school track team and decides to use the situation as an opportunity to go after the girl she’s crushed on forever — only to find herself falling for an unexpected teammate and discovering REAL LOVE.
Amazon Prime Video’s Queer Content for April 2022
Under the Tuscan Sun (2003) – April 1
Recently divorced writer Frances (Diane Lane) buys a villa in Tuscany on a whim hoping for a big change in her life! Famously, Sandra Oh plays her lesbian best friend Patti who is expecting a baby with her partner, Grace (Kate Walsh), and thus gave Frances the Italian vacation ticket that started this whole charade. Later Patti comes to visit! Big Mommi energy.
The Outlaws (BBC): Season One – April 1
Seven strangers who are all very different find themselves together in a Community Payback assignment after committing crimes. They discover a bag full of money and what will they do with it! Amongst them is cocaine addict Lady Gabby, whose angry issues got her into a mess with her ex that got her arrested. You can read LezWatchTV’s review of the series, which debuted on the BBC, for more info!
Batwoman: Season Three (The CW) – April 2
The whole damn season of this superhero show centered on a Black lesbian Batwoman that you may have watched week-to-week along with our famed recaps arrives at HBO Max on April 2nd.
Paramount+ Gay Things for April 2022
iCarly: Season 2 – April 8
Season Two of this grown-up version of the Nickelodean classic finds Carly Shay navigating work, relationships and family as a 20-something and aiming for even bigger success with her revived webseries. Her best friend / roommate Harper (Laci Mosley) is bisexual!
Rugrats – 10 New Episodes – April 15
More episodes of the CGI reboot of Rugrats has Natalie Morales voicing Phil and Lil’s openly gay Mom Betty DeVille!
22 Fictional Books From Movies and TV Shows We Would Really Like to Actually Read
1. Station Eleven, by Miranda Caroll
Station Eleven (HBO Max, 2021 – 2022)
Clearly the most influential and resonant graphic novel of all time, this rare and piece of dystopian literature is at the center of one of the best television programs ever made. I am dying to read it.
2. Lez Girls, by Jenny Schecter
The L Word (Showtime, 2004 – 2009)
Jenny Schecter’s thinly fictionalized tome of lesbian life and romance in turn-of-the-century Los Angeles started a scandal and inspired an immediate film adaptation. While it’s likely that reading Lez Girls would be like reading my L Word recaps without jokes, it would still be a wild ride.
3. Charlotte Light and Dark, by Dr. Gareth Feinberg, PhD
Six Feet Under (HBO, 2001 – 2005)
It was a discussion of this piece of problematic psychological lit that inspired me to make this list in the first place — the book Brenda Chenoweth’s parents wrote about her, the book that haunted and defined her forever, the book that apparently involved a lot of barking.
4. The Wrong Side of the Bed; Corruption, Cover-Ups and a Crisis of Culture on America’s #1 Morning Show, by Maggie Brenner
The Morning Show (Apple TV, 2020 -)
This tell-all threatened to ruin Alex Levy’s life and Bradley couldn’t put it down!
5. Anne Boleyn: Life and Death of a Martyr by Phillip W. Margate
Spencer (2021)
I love books that come with the ghost of Anne Boelyn visiting you in your bedchambers, like a little bonus gift.
6. Summer Storm by Melody Valentine
Riverdale (The CW, 2017 – )
Rising queer Black author Melody Valentine dropped out of law school to write this novel that was so good Tyler Perry immediately wanted to option it.
7. One Trick Pony, by Diane Nguyen
Bojack Horseman (Netflix, 2014 – 2020)
Netflix
The unfortunate assignment that started it all.
8. Shadow Dreamers and the Second Sister, by Jane Caldwell
Happiest Season (2019)
Hulu
It takes a long time to build a world!
9. Don’t Ask Alice, by Alice Piesecki
The L Word: Generation Q (2019 – )
(L-R): Donald Faison as Tom and Leisha Hailey as Alice in THE L WORD: GENERATION Q “Launch Party”. Photo Credit: Paul Sarkis/SHOWTIME.
Although the brief excerpt Alice read from this book at her launch party in an underground bunker was objectively terrible, the rest of the book may very well be chock full of hidden gems and behind-the-scenes secrets.
10. Melody Malone: Private Detective in Old New York Town, by River Song
Doctor Who (The BBC, 2005-)
Melody Malone: Private Detective in Old New York Town might not be River Song’s most famous book (spoilers!), but it did double as both a devil-may-care noir with a classy badass dame protagonist and also a world-saving guide for River Song’s future parents (it’s a long story).
11. Maloja Snake by Wilhelm Melchior
Clouds of Sils Maria (2014)
Named after a cloud formation that winds its way through the Alpine pass like a river, this psychological drama featuring a homoerotic relationship between a troubled older woman and a manipulative younger woman sounds right up our alley.
12. Chronicles of a Fed-Up Millennia and January 22nd by Arabella Essiedu
I May Destroy You (HBO, 2021)
First, the book largely sourced from her personal, clever, zeitgeisty twitter account that garnered her the lucrative publishing contract she struggles to meet throughout the season. Second, the book she eventually writes and publishes independently telling the story she had to tell, which she’s about to read from when the series ends. “It’s a beautifully cathartic moment, a summation not just of the work she’s now sharing, but of the internal work that most people will never see,” writes Vulture.
13. Vampyr, by Multiple Authors
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003)
This book contains important information that helps people become powerful I think.
14. Snow Falling, by Jane Villanueva
Jane the Virgin (The CW, 2014 – 2019)
Jane Villanueva’s inspiration is Isabelle Allende, which is already setting a high bar, but a lifetime of watching telenovelas and eating peanut butter sandwiches — I just know Jane can sell a romance, even if it’s a straight one.
15. The Time Hump Chronicles by Suzanne Warren
Orange is the New Black (Netflix, 2013 – 2019)
All of Litchfield was buzzing about it!
16. Trust? Who Needs It? An Agoraphobic’s Memoir, by Peyton Lombard
Elena Undone (2010)
Honestly the very existence of this book and its presentation in the film is the closest thing this movie did to “telling a joke.”
17. Sleep and Longevity, by Sarah Roberts
The Hunger (1983)
I think what’s important here is that sometimes your research on sleep and longevity can lead you into a homoerotic relationship with a vampire, and we are generally supportive of that life path
18. Call Me Gabe: Memoir of the Decade, by Gabe Parrish
Shrill (Hulu, 2019 – 2021)
I mean, according to The Times, “Parrish writes brilliant tales of punk rock lunacy and sex, his pulsating words grab the reader by the balls and whispers I dare you to fuck with me.” Based on Gabe’s overall deal as a person, it will probably be a hate read, but so are a lot of things, really.
19. Love Hurts, by Catherine Woof
Basic Instinct (1992)
via reddit
The author psuedonym for problematic bisexual character Catherine Trammell was “Catherine Woolf” and I cannot imagine the effed up twists that likely lie within.
20. Princess Cydney, by Miranda Ruth
Princess Cyd (2017)
It’s so sweet when Cyd realizes she was named after this book that she vaguely remembers reading and loving and it sounds like a great book so!!!!
21. How to Know the Person You Love Loves You Even Though They Don’t Act Like It Most of the Time by Vincent Bubbles
Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar (2021)
This was basically the book I wanted to read during a relationship that involved me googling a lot of unhinged questions like “ok to be bothered that girlfriend goes out every night and never sleeps at home?”
22. “A Woman’s Place by Serena Joy Waterford
The Handmaid’s Tale (2016 – )
(that’s Elise Bauman as “Jenny” walking offstage as Serena takes her place onstage!)
I just feel like it is really ripe for a like, “15 Most Accidentally Homoerotic Sentences from Serena Joy’s “A Woman’s Place” article, you know?
The 26 Best Lesbian Knifeplay Scenes in TV History
Update 3/3/22: In honor of Killing Eve returning for its fourth and final season (and also in honor of the fact that Autostraddle is recapping the show weekly for the first time!), I thought it was high time to update this very important work of cultural criticism and investigative journalism. As with the first time around, the definitions of “knife,” “knifeplay,” “gay,” and even “TV” are interpreted broadly. The only rule about this list is that there are no rules.
Whether Killing Eve’s Eve and Villanelle want to end each other’s lives literally by way of murder or just end each other, like, sexually is a complicated question because the answer is both and yet neither. What Villanelle and Eve have for each other is, in turns but also sometimes all at once, seductive and dangerous. Their knifeplay has birthed many a fanfic, and I should know, because I read them as if they were cute lil bedtime stories.
But while Eve and Villanelle may have recently popularized and perfected the art of seductive-scary knifeplay on television, they certainly did not invent it. Here are the other times gay knifeplay graced our televisions.
Villanelle gifts Eve lipstick with a razor hidden in it (Killing Eve)
So the first thing I knew I was gonna do when updating this list was add several more Killing Eve moments.
Villanelle holds a blade against Eve’s throat and says “will you give me everything I want” (Killing Eve)
Date night!
Villanelle coaches Eve in the art of ax-murder (Killing Eve)
The fact that Villanelle is this thrilled to watch Eve kill someone? The fact that this scene is closely followed by Villanelle saying “you’re mine”? Just murder wives doing murder wife shit!
Ruby and Scarlett’s whole thing (American Horror Stories)
At best, I think the Rubber(wo)man chapters of American Horror Stories are boring and uninspired. And at worst, they encapsulate tired and heteronormative ideas of kink, sexuality, and desire despite being about a young queer girl discovering herself but I digress! Anyway, here’s a pic of a makeout that also features a knife.
RoboSara holds a knife to Dr. Sharpe’s neck (Legends Of Tomorrow)
Thank you to Valerie for flagging this one!
Batwoman saves Sophie with a batarang and then Sophie saves Batwoman with a batarang (Batwoman)
What is a batarang if not a bat-shaped knife?
Kirsten and her knife (Station Eleven)
I have not seen Station Eleven yet (I know! I’m working on it!) but Drew said the following: “Station Eleven is all about a bisexual who is good at throwing knives but did she ever do so in a sexy way with a woman?” And Riese chimed in to say that indeed Kirsten is in a codependent relationship with her knife, so I’m counting it!
Taissa grabs a letter opener after making out with her wife (Yellowjackets)
Honestly, Yellowjackets as a whole has very Gay Knifeplay Vibes. In addition to this Taissa moment, shoutout to Shauna’s close relationship with knives as a teen and adult.
Below, you’ll find the original 18 moments that made the first version of this list in 2019!
Villanelle with a knife in Eve’s kitchen (Killing Eve)
Wow, just wow. This image really is Killing Eve in a nutshell.
Eve stabs Villanelle (Killing Eve)
Remember when we all thought Eve and Villanelle were going to have gay sex? But then instead, Eve STABBED her? In any case, as season two shows, Villanelle thinks Eve stabbed her because she loves her…
Tamsin pulls a circular blade out of nowhere on Bo (Lost Girl)
“You are more alive than anyone I have ever met.”
Nancy Botwin and Celia Hodes in Nancy’s kitchen (Weeds)
Okay, I’m going to need everyone with a Netflix subscription to go watch this scene right now. It happens in season three, episode 12, about three minutes into the episode. (If you don’t have Netflix, you can watch the scene here, but the quality is not great and trust me this is something you want to experience in HD!!!) Watch the scene three times. The first time, listen to Celia’s breathing. The second time, focus on Nancy’s hands. The third time, focus on Celia’s hands. The HAND ACTING that is happening in this scene is incredible and undeniably sexual. This is a sex scene, and you cannot convince me otherwise.
Faith uses her new knife on Willow (Buffy The Vampire Slayer)
Faith and her knife have almost as much chemistry as Faith and Buffy do.
Faith pushes Buffy against a wall (Buffy The Vampire Slayer)
“If you’re a screamer, feel free.”
Stahma poisons Kenya (Defiance)
Yes, technically poison is not a knife. But spiritually, this counts as knifeplay.
Root and Shaw and the iron that sparked a million fics (Person Of Interest)
Oh yes, another entry on this list that does not technically involve a knife. We’re not even halfway through here and we are spiraling out of control, but did you expect anything less?
Clarke holds a knife to Lexa’s throat (The 100)
I’M SORRY!!!!!!
Fen hurls a dagger at Margo (The Magicians)
Dagger-throwing is a commonly practiced form of lesbian foreplay.
Linda Cardellini just loving knives (A Simple Favor)
I know this is not a TV show, but clearly this list is playing it fast and loose with its own guidelines. I called Linda Cardellini’s character in A Simple Favor a Knives Lesbian in my review of the film, and I stand behind it. She collects knives; she paints knives; Blake Lively ruined her life. Knives Lesbian.
Helena Cain and her folding knife (Battlestar Galactica)
This knife passed from Helena to Kendra Shaw to Starbuck, which is both beautiful and gay.
Mona brought pie (PLL: The Perfectionists)
She! Brought! Pie!
Xena confiscates Gabrielle’s “breast knife” (Xena: Warrior Princess)
Gabrielle’s ACTUAL response to this? “It’s not like your breasts aren’t dangerous enough.”
Xena and Callisto’s fight (Xena: Warrior Princess)
This was a body-swapping arc, and body-swapping is gay.
Emperor Georgiou and Michael Burnham in the Mirror Universe (Star Trek: Discovery)
Michelle Yeoh’s top energy on Star Trek: Discovery is… too… powerful.
Rory and Paris’ fencing fight (Gilmore Girls)
In all seriousness, this is one of the greatest television scenes of all time.
Dylan pulls out a knife literally during sex with Helena (The L Word)
Somehow, this is like the most chill thing that happens in the series finale.
What’s New and Gay To Stream in March 2022
Well here we come to March, a key time for all of us to stare at our television and say “where are the gay things? If I turn on Netflix, what will I find there? Or Amazon?!?!?!! Or HULU!?!?! What about HBO Max?? I am here to tell you!
Unfortunately the answer is NOT MUCH. I have never spent as much time on a monthly streaming guide as I did this month, because when there’s nothing really big or fun to announce I have to do 10x more research into the “maybes” in hopes of a verified gay.
It seems that the entirety of this year is devoted to biopics based on podcasts or documentaries or articles we saw or watched or read between 2018-2020, usually about business people who rose quickly to the top based on a collection of lies, and because nobody wants to give a lesbians billions of dollars for an imaginary music festival or blood machine or social art foundation club or high-concept communal workspace or ride-sharing app, we rarely find ourselves as the epicenter of these stories! Sad! However if anybody wants to read a great novel based on a true story about a lesbian con artist then great news I finally finished my first draft.
So, shall we proceed towards yet another month of grasping for the smallest straws??!!!
*means that I’m not sure if there will be any queer content in this but it seems like there could be
Netflix Content for Gals, Gays and Theys in March 2022
V for Vendetta (2005) – March 1
If you’re a regular reader of this column, you know that V for Vendetta is a film that hops from service to service every month, withdrawing its services and then re-instating them with alarming regularity. As discussed previously, V for Vendetta is a dystopian political action film from the Wachowskis starring Natalie Portman.
Good Girls: Season 4 – March 7
Season Four of this show about Moms who steal and launder money literally!
Queer Eye Germany: Season 1 – March 9
The first international spin-off of the Queer Eye franchise will see “five local experts steering the lives of their protégés in a positive direction with their knowledge, empathy and, above all, confident queer energy.” Life Coach and former Club Kid Leni Bolt (she/they), will be the queer eye with “Life” Expertise and is described as “an expert for time management & mindfulness in all aspects of everyday life, a work/life coach, podcast host and hippie at heart with one mission: to change negative perspectives and help people become happy.”
The Andy Warhol Diaries: Six-Part Series – March 9
Ryan Murphy’s new project is telling Warhol’s story in his own words, putting one of Warhol’s own dreams into action by using A.I technology to provide Warhol’s narration of his published diaries in something close to his own voice. The six-part series will follow Warhol from his childhood to the ’60s Factory days to his friendship with Basquiat in the ’80s.
DC’s Legends of Tomorrow: Season 7 – March 10
The seventh season of Legends of Tomorrow has newlyweds Ava and Sara leading their team and fighting side by side as they get stuck in the 20s and have to find their way back home; co-captains for life. Plus, one of the Legends comes out as the first asexual character in the Beeboverse!
Human Resources: Season One – March 18
From the creators of Big Mouth comes Human Resources, which promises to be “even edgier and adult-ier” with its focus on the full-time lives of the creatures — Hormone Monsters, Depression Kitties, Shame Wizards and more — that assist human beings on their fascinating journey from puberty to parenthood to getting very old.
The Principles of Pleasure: Season One – March 22
A docuseries that combines sex, joy and modern science to celebrate the complicated universe of WOMEN’S PLEASURE, putting old-fashioned myths to rest. So there will be queer women all over this obviously.
Casual: Seasons 1-4: March 31st
Smart, irreverent Hulu family comedy Casual centers on Valerie (Michaela Watkins), who, along with her daughter Laura (Tara Lynne Barr), moves in with her dating-app-founder brother Alex (Tommy Dewey) after her divorce. In Season One, Alex dates a poly bisexual woman named Emmy, and in Season Two, Laura has a thing with a female friend — and continues leading a bisexual life in ensuing seasons!
Gay Content on Amazon Prime Video for March 2022
The Boys Present: Diabolical: Season One
A series of short-form cartoons based on the characters from Amazon’s The Boys, which is beloved for its bisexual Queen Maeve. There’s not much queer stuff in these teeny little episodes but you know, it exists!
Lizzo’s Watch Out For The Big Grrrls: Season One – March 25
Lizzo’s competition series sees oft-overlooked dancers living in a house together and competing challenges to earn the honor of dancing with Lizzo at Bonnaroo. “There’s one glaring difference between “Watch Out for the Big Grrrls” and those other competition shows, however,” writes Variety. “Lizzo doesn’t harshly criticize the contestants, and she doesn’t always eliminate someone at the end of each episode. She wants “Watch Out for the Big Grrrls” to be a place of positivity — a rarity in reality TV.” According to Into, “Besides the unlabeled but openly queer star singer, the show features both men and women and may very well include LGBTQ dancers in the competition.”
Hulu LGBTQ+ Content for March 2022
The Dropout: Limited Series Premiere – March 3
This highly anticipated biopic about blood-drop scammer Elizabeth Holmes will include a trans lesbian character, Ann Arriola, played by queer trans actress Nicky Endres.
Fresh (2022) – March 4
This edgy horror film about the expected and very unexpected perils of heterosexual dating includes lesbian Twenties‘ star Jonica T Gibbs as the queer best friend of the film’s lead Noa, who finds the perfect man has one very problematic quirk.
Bendetta (2021) – March 4
Based on the life of Benedetta Carlini, a 17th century lesbian nun and mystic, Bendetta has generated controversy for nun content that includes “gentle goodnight kisses, boobs groped through sheer curtains, some vague fingering and grinding, and yes, as promised, a dildo made out of a Virgin Mary statue.”
Pose: Season Three (FX) – March 7
Hulu has finally secured the rights to Pose! And Season Three will land into our lives on March 7th, along with all the American Crime Story properties from the Ryan Murphy catalog.
The Thing About Pam* (NBC): Series Premiere – March 9
This series starring Renee Zellweger as Pam Hupp is based on a true crime case that is very familiar to me because Pam Hupp alleged that she was having a lesbian affair with Betsy Faria, who she definitely murdered but somehow got Betsy’s husband imprisoned for.
Good Trouble: Season 4A Premiere (Freeform) – March 10
Season Four returns with Alice on the road, leaving Sumi behind to manage the property and Malika preparing to introduce her partners Angelica and Dyonte to each other but getting caught off guard by a surprise visit from her ex.
Charmed: Season Four Premiere (The CW) – March 12
Mel and Maggie are learning to navigate life without Macy and for Mel, this means distracting herself with new flings! Austrailan actress Lucy Barrett (perhaps known to you as Aisha Dee’s girlfriend) will be joining the cast as Kaela Danso, the new Charmed One taking Macy’s place. She’s descrieb
Claws (TNT): Season 4 – March 14
In the final season of this show starring Niecy Nash as a nail salon owner working her way up into a full-blown criminal enterprise, Quiet Ann is looking to get the F out of Palmetto, Florida.
Welcome to Flatch* (Fox) Series Premiere – March 17th
This new sitcom following a documentary crew “exploring the lives of residents in a small American town” full of “eccentric personalities.” There will be a bisexual! Murray Hill also shot an episode for the series. The series will be shared between Fox and Hulu.
Life & Beth*: Season One – March 18
Murray Hill appears as Amy’s “eccentric boss” in three episodes (and there’s also a woman cast as his partner according to IMBD), but Hill told Metro Weekly that it’s not like the character is “a trans character” or a “drag character” but “just Murray.” Not sure what that means but I feel like somebody else should be gay on this show, like she has three female best friends and that’s just math I think?
The Girl From Plainville*: Limited Series Premiere – March 29th
Elle Fanning stars as Michelle Carter, the woman at the center of the “texting suicide case” who, in a very controversial ruling, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter for texts she sent her internet boyfriend encouraging him to commit suicide. The HBO documentary I Love You Now Die: The Commonwealth Vs. Michelle Carter explains the (very complicated!) case in more detail, and also delves into Carter’s bisexuality and her formative relationship with a close friend, Alice. I’m not sure if this element of her personhood will be covered in this series but we’ll see!
Queer Shows and Films Joining HBO Max in March 2022
There is a LOT of new stuff coming out on HBO and HBO Max this month but the later-in-the-month titles don’t have a ton of info available about them!
Our Flag Means Death: Season One – March 3rd
This pirate-related comedy has two promising items for us here: non-binary actor and friend of Autostraddle Vico Ortiz is in it and has described it as ” A dream role and story line that I honestly cannot wait to show y’all.” Also, Leslie Jones is dressed in male pirate garb in some promotional photos.
Phoenix Rising (2022) – March 15
Bisexual actress Evan Rachel Wood is the focus of Amy Berg’s two-part documentary on Wood’s mission to pursue justice, heal generational wounds and reclaim her story as a survivor as she lobbies for “The Phoenix Act,” which extends the statute of limitations for domestic violence cases in California. Wood focuses her personal story on her relationship with Marilyn Manson, who was 37 when he began dating then-18-year-old Wood.
DMZ: Limited Series* – March 17
Ava DuVernay’s adaptation of the DC Comics Series features a powerhouse cast of women including queer actress Rutina Wesley, and the plot of this dystopian series that sees America amid a civil war does contain an “all-women commune,” so IDK, I feel like something gay has to happen.
Lust: Season One Premiere – March 18
HBO Max acquired this Swedish comedy about the sex lives of four middle-aged women in Stockholm, one of whom is conducting a nationwide survey to “make Sweden sexy again.” They begin questioning the decadence of sin while dealing with “the mundane realities of Thursday sex, careers, kids, marriage, divorce and the never-ending struggle to stay young, fit and sexy.” It appears that these four central women are unfortunately heterosexual, but there’s some queer stuff in the trailer (including someone checking off “homosexual” on a survey form and a teenager asking their parents if they know what “pansexual” means and also a clear lesbian in a beanie). As usual, if all four women in a series about exploring their sexuality do not hook up with other women I will be SKEPTICAL.
Degrassi: The Next Generation (2001 – 2015) – March 25
If you’ve been eager to relive the magic and the mystery of Palex (By which I mean PAIGE AND ALEX, the original Palex, not Piper and Alex), HBO Max has great news for you!!!
Queen Stars: Season One Premiere – March 24th
A new drag queen reality show hosted by singers Pabllo Vittar and Luisa Sonza.
Peacock’s New LGBTQ+ Stories for March 2022
Fried Green Tomatoes (1991) – March 1
Based on the Fannie Flagg best-seller and de-gayed for mainstream audiences, this beloved film traces the very close personal friendship between free-spirited tomboy Idgie and troubled housewife Ruth in 1920s Alabama.
Joe vs. Carole: Limited Series – March 3
Another hotly anticipated biopic stars our beloved Kate McKinnon as tiger rights crusader Carole Baskin, who is bisexual although it’s unclear if the series will have any reason to explore that particular fact. John Cameron Mitchell is undoubtedly going to be a real delight as the Tiger King!
Bust Down: Season One – March 10
Four casino employees in Gary, Indiana who are completely unsatisfied with their lives find joy in their friendship in this show the creators describe as not about “warming hearts or giving voice to the voiceless” but rather “about finding comedy in the unimportant.” Based on hyperbolic versions of how they see each other, Sam Jay (who plays a stud lesbian who works as a cook at the casino), Chris Redd, Langston Kerman and Jak Knight wanted to “make a show about nonsense the same way white people have been doing forever.”
Paramount+ Feeling LGBTQ+ In March 2022
Star Trek: Picard – Season Two Premiere – March 3
Raffi and Seven’s relationship began at the end of Season One, and now we return after a bit of time to find them trying long-distance with Seven fighting pirates with the rangers and Raffi teaching at the Starfleet Academy — “it’s definitely not a white picket fence and a fairy tale,” Raffi says of their relationship in Season Two.
More Than This: Season One – March 4 – ONLY IN AUSTRALIA
I got so excited about this show and then realized it’s coming to Paramount Plus Australia and not the U.S. But I am going to tell you about this anyway. This series comes from co-creators 19-year-old actor/filmmaker Olivia Deeble and 18-year-old non-binary actor/filmmaker Luka Gracie and tells the “real, authentic and often raw story of five 17-year-old students and their teacher whose diverse worlds collide when they are thrown together into a Year 12 English class.” Gracie plays newly-out non-binary student Jamie, and queer actress Selena Brincat plays Zali, who is “cracking under pressure from teachers, her strict father, her jealous girlfriend Emma and her own need for control.”
February 2022: What’s New and Gay on Netflix, Hulu, Peacock, HBO Max, AMC+, Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video
Well, February is a light little month for lesbian, bisexual, queer and/or trans characters on streaming networks, perhaps because the networks are very busy making medicore rom-coms for heterosexuals to celebrate the day of Saint Valentine and we are all warming up for the Winter Olympics, which are sure to be saturated in alternative sexualities. What, maychance, however, doth the month hold in store for lesbian, bisexual, queer and trans characters on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Peacock and Disney+?
* means there MIGHT be queer content but I am not sure!
Lesbian and Bisexual and Queer Characters Joining Us on Netflix in February 2022
Raising Dion: Season 2 – February 1
Raising Dion is the story of Nicole and her son Dion, who turns out to have superpowers, which is a fun little twist for a Mom who just wants her son to get good grades and stuff. In Season 2, he’s continuing to hone his powers with the support of his mom and his Biona trailer, Tevin. Nicole’s sister, Kat, is a lesbian and a regular character in the series.
Disenchantment: Season 4 – February 9
Created by The Simpsons‘ Matt Groening, Disenchantment has long been lauded for its queer representation, including Princess Bean, voiced by queer actress Abbi Jacobson. Netflix promises a return of “the misadventures of hard-hitting, hard-drinking Queen Bean, her feisty elf companion Elfo and her personal demon Luci.”
Anne+ The Film – February 11
This queer Dutch series was a massive hit for the lesbian COMMUNITY and now we’re getting a FULL-ON FILM that sees Anne ready to finish her book, pack up her life in Amsterdam and move to Montreal to be with her girlfriend Sara, who’d like to be polyamorous. But then Anne meets Lou, a non-binary drag artist with a very different perspective on love and relationships, and it throws everything she thought she knew into turmoil!
Inventing Anna: Limited Series* – February 11
This HIGHLY anticipated Shondaland production tells the story of fake heiress and noted conwoman Anna Delvey. Laverne Cox plays Kacy Duke, a “celebrity trainer and life coach who — while centered enough to keep herself out of the real trouble — finds herself becoming a coach to more than just Anna in the wake of her crimes.” There were rumors that the real Anna had a girlfriend in prison but it’s unclear if we will be seeing any such thing in this series! As you can imagine, I hope so. Queer actress Rebecca Henderson is truly everywhere these days, including playing a detective in this little program.
Heart Shot – February 17
This 18-minute short is the story of high school seniors Nikki and Samantha, who are in love and planning their future until Nikki’s violent past returns to threaten everything that matters to her!
One of Us is Lying: Season One – February 18
If you didn’t catch this mediocre adaptation of a medicore YA novel when it premiered on Peacock last year, great news it is coming to Netflix! Jessica McLeod plays lesbian character Janae, an outcast who was best friends with Simon, the guy who dies in the first episode and thus thrusts the four teens who were in detention with him into turmoil because many suspect that Simon was murdered and EVERYBODY’S GOT SOMETHING TO HIDE EXCEPT ME AND MY MONKEY.
Space Force: Season 2 – February 18
Steve Carrell’s little outer space comedy returns and although the preview does not feature his gay ex-wife played by Lisa Kudrow, they did flash her name on the screen and that’s not nothing!!!
Hulu TV Shows and Movies for Gals, Gay and Theys in February 2022
Black Swan (2010) – February 1st
As a funny video once asked, “Black Swan Black Swan did you really happen?” This is a psychological horror film about ballet where Natalie Portman is very upset and there is some homoeroticism. You know what I mean!!!
Pam & Tommy: Limited Series* – February 2nd
Taylor Schilling plays queer porn star Erica Gauthier — who was married to sex tape thief Rand Gauthier during the events of the film — in this hotly anticipated miniseries about the tumultuous relationship and sex tape of Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee, based on a 2014 Rolling Stone article about the absurd series of events that led to the tape’s release.
Dollface: Complete Season 2 – February 11
It would appear that Stella, played by our very own Shay Mitchell, is having a queer relationship this season with Liv (Lilly Singh), with whom she is opening a “bar for women” that has rose on tap. Liv’s character is described as “a queer bar owner with a confident sense of humor.” There is a scene where Stella is trying to buy a dildo. Cute! Dollface itself stars Kat Dennings and is about “a young woman who — after being dumped by her longtime boyfriend — must deal with her own imagination in order to literally and metaphorically re-enter the world of women, and re-kindle the female friendships she left behind.”
Grey’s Anatomy – Season 18 Returns February 24 to ABC, February 25 on Hulu
Station 19 – Season 5 Returns February 24 to ABC, February 25 on Hulu
Better Things: Season 5 Premiere (FX) – February 28
Better Things‘ final season (sad!!!!) will focus on “the road ahead” for Sam Fox, according to Deadline, “so devoted to her life as a working actor and single mother as she navigates three coming-of-age daughters, the challenges of her chosen career and her mother’s increasing signs of aging — as well as her own. As each of the Fox women head into the next phase of their life, they are inspired to re-evaluate themselves, learn from the past and find their own direction.” Lena Waithe is amongst the season’s anticipated guest stars.
Lesbian and Queer Content Coming to Amazon Prime Video in February 2022
Life Partners (2014) – February 1
It’s the story of “two codependent best friends — one straight girl, one lesbian — and the man who comes between them.” It’s actually pretty cute! Sasha (Leighton Meester) is in an intense co-dependent best friendship with Paige (Gillian Jacobs), but then Paige meets a boy and it changes everything!
LOL: Last One Laughing Canada: Season One – February 18
A group of comedians trapped in a room tasked with forcing each other to laugh. Amongst the lucky laughers is our beloved queer comic star of “Feel Good,” Mae Martin.
Queers on HBO Max in February 2022
Pure (2021) – February 3
One of several winners of the 2021 American Black Film Festival’s Annual HBO Short Film collection showcased on the network this month, this 12 minute film by Natalie Jasmine Harris tells the story of a young Black girl grappling with her queer identity and questioning her purity on the eve of her cotillion ball.
About Last Night: Season One Premiere – February 10
Ayesha and Stephen Curry are hosting this “exclusive celebrity party” where couples turn up to play games and answer trivia questions that’ll put their relationships to the test! Amongst the featured couples are our king and queen Jessica Betts & Niecy Nash and the very hilarious Tig Notaro & Stephanie Allyne.
February 2022 LGBT Content at Disney+
The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder – February 23rd
“The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder” is a continuation of the acclaimed 2001 – 2005 series about “the adventures and misadventures of Penny, a typical African American girl who’s doing her best to navigate through the early years of teen-dom.” The series will also feature 14-year-old Penny and her family but in the 2020s, which brings new challenges like “a socially woke neighbor,” bullying social media influencers” and “her own teenage hormones.” New faces on the show include Maya and KG, two kids with two gay Dads. It’s unclear if there are any queer women or non-binary characters, but Billy Porter, Keke Palmer, Lena Waithe and EJ Johnson are amongst the voices featured, so!
LGBTQ+ Inclusive Shows on Peacock in February 2022
Bel-Air: Series Premiere – February 13
What if The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was serious and not a sitcom? That is the question we will all be answering together when reboot debuts, following Will’s “complicated journey from the streets of West Philadelphia to the gated mansions of Bel-Air.” Will will be reckoning with “the power of second chances while navigating the conflicts, emotions, and biases of a world far different from the only one he’s ever known.” The first three episodes will drop on February 13th. Something LGBT and relevant to our interests is gonna happen but I don’t know what it is yet!
AMC+ Queer TV Shows of February 2022
State of the Union: Season 2 – February 14
Non-binary actor Esco Jouléy is one of the three leads of this short-form series in which “liberal campaigning Ellen (Patricia Clarkson) drags her traditional, self-made husband Scott (Gleeson) out of his comfort zone and into a hipster Connecticut coffee shop, where they have 10 minutes before their marriage counselling session to drink a coffee, gather their thoughts and argue about everything from Quakerism to pronouns.”
Killing Eve: Season 4 Premiere – February 27
Following that sexually tense moment on the bridge, Eve is out for revenge and Villanelle “has found a brand-new community in an attempt to prove she’s not a “monster.” Carolyn continues chasing down the Twelve and whomever ordered Kenny’s hit, which is all part of a storyline I barely absorbed at the time and likely will continue watching this show without any real genuine consciousness of its import. I am here for fashion and sexual tension! We are promised that “this season follows our extraordinary women, each driven by passion, revenge and obsession, building towards a messy, nuanced and totally glorious series finale.”
January 2022: Here’s What’s New and Gay on Netflix, HBO Max and Hulu
Hello and welcome to your monthly guide on brand new streaming items coming to your television sets / computer screens in January 2022, chock-full of lesbian, bisexual, queer and trans characters!
Oddly, I didn’t get any gay vibes, let alone any gay information, from the January 2022 slate being served up at Amazon Prime, Peacock, Paramount+ or Apple, so I am hoping there’ll be a surprise or else they will make it up to us in February. In the meantime; Netflix, Hulu and HBO Max still have room for the homosexuals, bisexuals and pansexuals in their hearts this month.
What’s New and Queer on Netflix for January 2022
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2011) – January 1
I believe we are as a community familiar with this series, in which Rooney Mara plays traumatized tough bisexual investigator Lisbeth Salander, helping Mikael Blookvist solve the 40-year-old murder of his niece.
REBƎLDE: Season One – January 5
This series is based on a Mexican telenovela by the same name which was a massive hit, spawning an actual pop group that released nine studio albums. Netflix’s REBƎLDE follows a new crew of very hot and talented teen musicians enrolled at the Elite Way School. Amongst them is Andi (Lizbeth Selene), “a rocker at heart” and “a drummer who scoffs at any rulebook, from what she wears to whom she dates in between rehearsing for Battle of the Bands.” In the trailer we see Andi making out on a couch with Emilia Alo (Giovanna Grigio), “the most popular girl at EWS.”
Hype House: Season One – January 7
Ten 20-year-old TikTokers have ben picked to live in a 25 million dollar house together and have their lives taped and now you can find out what happens when influencers make content? Together? In a nice house?!!?! And I guess have fights and stuff. Anyhow, one of the housemates, Nikita Dragun, is a trans woman.
Chosen: Season One – January 13
This “thrilling and absurd story about teenage life” centers on 17-year-old Emma, who is about to “discover an earth shattering truth about her own identity when she delves into the mystery surrounding her quiet Danish town.” The mystery is that the hole in the middle of town everybody said was a meteor is not a meteor hole, it’s a hole caused by aliens crashing their spaceship! Anyhow, Emma definitely has a lesbian romance in this series, they are kissing in the trailer I saw it with my own two eyes.
Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness: Season One – January 28
This new reality show from non-binary Queer Eye hair wizard Jonathan Van Ness will see them asking big questions like “was Sister Act realistic” and “what’s the history of scissors?” I will be tuning in thank you!
Hulu’s Lesbian & Queer Content for January 2022
Sex Appeal (2022) – January 14
This Hulu original film focuses on Avery, who is prepping for sex with her long-distance boyfriend by MASTERING her sexuality, employing her best friend as a test subject. This sounds pretty heterosexual BUT also, the following people are in this film: Margaret Cho, Fortune Feimster, Rebecca Henderson, Paris Jackson. Soooo something gay is going to happen.
9-1-1: Lone Star (Fox): Season 3 Premiere – January 4
This is Us (NBC): Season 6 Premiere – January 5
Black Bear (2020) – January 10
Bisexual actress/icon Aubrey Plaza stars in this critically acclaimed psychological meta-thriller. She plays an out-of-town guest seeking filmmaking inspiration who is shacking up with a couple in their Adirondack lakehouse. As per letterboxd, “The group quickly falls into a calculated game of desire, manipulation, and jealousy, unaware of how dangerously intertwined their lives will soon become.” According to at least one review, there is a lesbian in the movie! Vulture placed it at #3 on its list of Aubrey Plaza Movie Roles, Ranked by How Badly She Wants to Kill You.
Naomi (The CW): Season One Premiere (Available with Hulu Live+) – January 11
Normally I don’t include shows here that require Hulu Live (because that’s basically just every show on TV) BUT we just really wanted you to know about this one! I’ll let Natalie take it from here: Based on the 2019 comic book series of the same name, Naomi is the latest superhero offering from the CW. It’s the story of Naomi McDuffie, an effortlessly cool teenager with an obsession with all things Superman. But when her quiet hometown is upended by a Superman stunt, Naomi starts to question everything around her, including her own origin story. Naomi is the latest television offering from Ava Duvernay…and like she did with Queen Sugar, she goes beyond the source material and introduces queerness.
How I Met Your Father (Hulu): Two-Episode Premiere – January 18
This standalone sequel to How I Met Your Mother stars Hilary Duff as Sophie (and Kim Cattrall as future Sophie) and Chris Lowell as Jesse. Tien Tran plays Ellen, Jesse’s adoptive sister who is described as “more comfortable on an organic lettuce farm than a Brooklyn dive bar.” She’s recently left her small farming town for New York City after separating from her wife.
Single Drunk Female (Freeform): Series Premiere – January 21
Sofia Black D’Elia’s Samantha is a twentysomething writer who loses her media job after drunkenly assaulting her boss, is subsequently shipped off to rehab and then finds herself back home living with her Mom, played by Ally Sheedy. Rebecca Henderson plays Samantha’s sponsor, Olivia, who is in a bananas relationship with her wife, Stephanie (Madeline Wise). Trans actress Jojo Brown plays Mindy, a friend Samantha meets in AA and then works for at the local grocery store!
Grown-ish: Season 4B Premiere (Freeform) – January 28
Burden of Truth: Complete Season 4 – January 30
This Canadian legal drama is focused on big city lawyer Joanna Chang, who returned to her hometown to take on an easy case that turned out to be a much harder case. Her assistant, Luna Spence, is a queer indigenous law student. Its fourth and final season debuted last year on The CW and saw its characters dealing with a mining company reopening a dormant mine outside their town and events that eventually open up a long-buried secret for Joanna. Also, Luna has a new girlfriend! Also worth noting is what Natalie wrote about the show in her recap of episode 409: “over four seasons, the Canadian import showcased indigenous stories in a way that few other television shows have.”
HBO Max LGBTQ+ Content For January 2022
Search Party: Season 5 Premiere – January 7
Grace Kuhlenschmidt and Michelle Badillo are gonna be in Season 5 of Search Party so I feel like there has to be something LGBT going on in the final season of this show that ranked #22 on our Best LGBT-Inclusive TV Shows of 2021.
Euphoria: Season 2 Premiere – January 9
The long-awaited Season Two of Euphoria is finally here! In July, Zendaya told Teen Vogue that the season is “gonna be hard and it’s gonna be devastating sometimes, but I think Rue really deserves all of that care when it comes to her character, because I think she represents a lot for so many people. And I hope to make those people proud with our depictions of Rue [and] where all the characters go. I think this season’s not going to be easy, though. It’s not going to be a fun watch, I don’t think. Sometimes.” Other cast members have described Season 2 as jaw-dropping and “insane,” so we’ll see!
Peacemaker: Season 1 Premiere – January 13th
The Suicide Squad’s Peacemaker is getting his very own spin-off series! Last year, Peacemaker put out a casting call for a recurring guest role described as a “Black Female, late 20s-early 30s, gay” character “reluctantly dealing with her new wife’s government job and the secrecy it requires.” Elizabeth Faith Ludlow — who appeared in HBO Max’s Equal and Netflix’s Another Life — snagged the role, so we’re just waiting to see which character she’s married to! Danielle Brooks is playing new not-from-the-comics character Leota Adebayo, and Jennifer Holland is Emilia Harcourt.
Somebody Somewhere: Season 1 Premiere – January 16th
A thing I learned this week is that Bridget Everett is not a lesbian? This is confusing to me but anyhow, this show is based on her life and she plays Sam, a singer who returns to her Kansas hometown to care for her sister and then her sister dies and THEN WHAT!?! I’m assuming there’ll be a lot of queer stuff in this because at one point she’s at a showcase hosted by Murray Hill and everybody in the room is gay.
That’s all folks! Does anybody know if The Gilded Age is going to be gay and if not, why not? Lemme know in the comments!
Honorable Mentions: More LGBT TV We Loved in 2021
Putting together the list of our favorite television of 2021 involved our entire TV Team voting — which meant that some of our personal faves were left out in the cold. This post is our chance to alert you to even more of the television we loved in 2021 that you may have missed and therefore should watch OR that you did not miss and therefore would appreciate the opportunity to celebrate, together.
To read about our Top 25 faves go here!
Heather, Senior Editor:
Mythic Quest, Season 2 (Apple TV)
Mythic Quest is one of those very rare shows that it seems like everyone loves, but no one’s talking about, until it gets to the end of the year and it makes every single Best Of list. I think it’s because comedy is never considered prestige TV and also no one’s life ever really gets wrecked by, like, dragons, so you’re not in any real danger of getting spoiled (which is, ironically, the thing people tweet about the most?) But I also think it’s because there’s a lot of scathing indictments of our current geeky and (white) girlboss culture that hit a little bit too close to home for a lot of us. Despite that, though, Mythic Quest is very, very, very funny. And there’s a slow-burning queer romance with real life geek actresses to boot!
Star Trek: Lower Decks, Season 2 (Paramount+)
Photo Cr: Best Possible Screen Grab CBS 2020 CBS Interactive, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
You know how everything in every episode of nearly every sci-fi show is life or death? What makes Star Trek: Lower Decks so great is that it’s about the crew of one of the LEAST important ships in the Starfleet, the USS Cerritos. That in and of itself is a novel premise for such a storied series. The series also focuses on the “lower-deckers,” the crew who don’t have prestigious jobs like Captain or Chief or Commanding Officer. They’re the downstairs workers in Downton Abbey, but in space, and as a comedy. You know by now that it annoys the heck out of me when people write off cartoons as trite, because some of the most important storytelling of our generations is happening in animated TV! Lower Decks tackles class privilege, workplace power dynamics, the internal conflicts of not having a satisfying career, and just the general complications of trying to have any kind of relationship with any other human being/alien. It’s a show for hard-core Trekkies and people who just like cartoons aimed at adults. It’s smart, but most importantly: it’s hilarious.
Natalie, Writer:
Rutherford Falls, Season 1 (Peacock)
(Photo by: Colleen Hayes/Peacock)
Even while doing this job — writing about queer television for the whole wide world — sometimes I forget how much representation matters. You can start to take representation for granted. Often, there’s so much to cover and not enough time to cover it all…and it feels more overwhelming than valuable. Or, you’re so bogged down in doing the work of recapping, that you forget to enjoy a show for entertainment or appreciate the value of that representation.
But earlier this year, I listened to an episode of Pop Culture Happy Hour where two Native writers got to talk about Rutherford Falls and I was reminded about how important representation is. The unmitigated joy these two writers — Vincent Schilling and Shea Vassar — expressed in talking about this show that was foregrounding Native stories in a way that’s never been on television. Vassar talks about growing up in an era where Pocahontas was her representation and now Rutherford Falls comes along and it stars and is written by Native people…and it’s just so good. The emotion was palpable and reminded me that I should never, ever take representation for granted.
I rushed to Peacock after listening to that episode to watch Rutherford Falls and consumed it voraciously. It’s funny as hell and will fill that Good Place-sized hole in your heart.
Riese, Writer:
The Sex Lives of College Girls, Season One (HBO Max)
Photograph by Courtesy of HBO Max
Firstly, I do deeply resent this program for both its name and its dedication to hiding all queer-women-related content from all of its promotional materials, thus inspiring me to prematurely declare that the entire show was a lie ’cause how can anybody do a show about the sex lives of college girls without any lesbian sex in it? Well great news, they can’t! Leighton, a legacy from the Upper East Side in Maje tweed and Gucci ankle boots, is the lesbian member of the four-girl set of roommates at the center of this comedy, and she keeps her sexuality a secret from everybody, not just the HBO Max PR team. But wueer inclusion is effortlessly everywhere in the Sex Lives of College Girls, from Whitney’s lesbian teammate on the Essex Soccer squad to her coach to appearances by our very own Vico Ortiz as Tova, a non-binary student Leighton meets at the Women’s Center where she’s forced to volunteer. But I was honestly just as much (if not moreso) invested in the stories of her roommates: horny aspiring comedy writer Bela (Amit Kaur), naive scholarship kid Kimberly (Pauline Chalamet) and star soccer player and Senator’s daughter Whitney (Alyah Chanelle Scott). All grapple with so much their first semseter at school — sex, sure, but also sexism, class, and their sense of self in this shifting world. But most of all this show is fucking funny, consistently fresh, sharp in all the right places and a true joy to watch.
Why Are You Like This? Season One (Netflix)
Skewering “woke” culture was a contest this year in which everybody lost, but if any show came anywhere close to not just falling entirely on their face halfway through the race, it was Why Are You Like This? This accomplishment is likely owed entirely to its awareness of its own certain failure. Naomi Higgins wrote the show and stars as Penny, a cis white straight woman with two best friends: bisexual Bengali Mia (Olivia Junkeer) and their flamboyantly gay roommate Austin. They’re horny and rude and messy and make irritating mistakes with idiotic fervor and it’s just really a delightful little ride of a show that seemingly nobody watched!
Station Eleven, Season One (HBO Max)
I think if this show had premiered a few weeks earlier it would’ve landed on our Top 25 — and, similar to a few other picks on that list, it would’ve done so not because the show is super queer but because the show is SO F*CKING GOOD that Kirsten (played by Matilda Lawler as a child Mackenzie Davis as an adult) mentioning dating a woman was simply our green light to talk about it. Based on a 2014 novel I read during the first month of our own pandemic, Station Eleven grapples with the aftermath of a flu that wipes out civilization entirely in 48 swift hours, weaving together stories of interconnected characters across time, flashing between the day the pandemic hit hardest and the ensuing few years and what remains 20 years later. It’s a sweeping feat of world-(re?)-building and careful character study, and what could be simply triggering instead becomes a type of catharsis, speaking enough to the moment that I can’t imagine how I would’ve digested the show back in 2019 but with enough distance to retain its classification as science fiction, asking big questions about the purpose and endurance of art in hopeless and materially barren times, how we’re shaped by personal reactions to shared trauma, the nature of family and so much more. I don’t honestly feel smart enough to even write about this show, but it’s without question the most spectacular, gripping and exciting thing I’ve seen all year.
Carmen, Editor-in-Chief:
Gentefied, Season 2 (Netflix)
Cr. Kevin Estrada/Netflix © 2021
It makes me so sad that Gentefied hasn’t received more mainstream buzz in its second season, because it was easily one of the best television watching experiences of my year! The kind of care it’s taken with Latine storytelling — from showing a multiplicity of perspectives, to generational (mis)understanding, to regional differences and anti-Black racism within our communities, down to the ways we use our Spanglish — is unparalleled on television right now.
Looking back on the year though, what most stands out about Gentefied is that it is such obviously a work of love. “Love” is obviously hard to quantify from a critical standpoint, so I’m wading in some difficult waters. But at the same time, I think we all know what it feels like when someone has poured their all into their art. Linda Yvette Chavez started Gentefied as a webseries at Sundance with Marvin Lemus, they had never sold a tv script or even set foot in a writers room, but they knew that stories about Latine families needed to be told by us, and for us. I’m not Mexican and I’ve never set foot in Boyle Heights, but the Thanksgiving episode of Gentefied’s second season brought me to tears from the title card, “Sangving” because it read in my own mother’s accent. “Yessika’s Day Off” is the most time we’ve ever spent with the interiority of a queer Afro-Latina on television ever (and yes, I’m including Sophie Suarez on The L Word: Generation Q, though I will always take more of her as well). The grown up cousins forever in each other’s business? That specific dynamic of how you’re both exactly who were to each other as children and also something entirely new, but always there, consistent? That’s me and my two cousins and I don’t know if I’ve seen it quite this way before.
It’s also not about what’s personal to me. Gentefied is the kind of family drama that I hope we push for more of everywhere. It’s caring but not afraid to challenge, it doesn’t hide dysfunction but also doesn’t use that dysfunction as an excuse to be cynical, it’s smart and political but only because it knows that policies affect humans first. It’s queer, but doesn’t isolate its queer characters away from the community that surrounds them.
I’d write a thousand more love letters to it, if I could.
Kayla, Managing Editor:
Star Trek: Discovery, Season Four (Paramount+)
Star Trek: Discovery consistently delivers excellent visual and character-driven storytelling, presenting an original sci-fi narrative while still tapping into the strengths of the franchise as a whole. It satisfies and surprises in equal measure. And in case you’re wondering: You don’t even have to be a hardcore Star Trek fan to enjoy it.
The Rivervale 5-episode Event (The CW)
Photo: Kailey Schwerman/The CW — © 2021 The CW Network, LLC. All rights reserved.
The five episode leadup to Riverdale’s 100th episode is simply this show doing all the things it does well— times one hundred. I wouldn’t say it’s self-parody so much as…the show evolving into its final, perfect form? Is that overwhelming and disorienting? Yes. But it’s oh so fun to watch. Does the show deserve to be on a best-of-the-year list? Probably not! I can admit that! But I’m fascinated by how Riverdale keeps finding new ways to mutate. May it last forty seasons.
Valerie Anne, Writer:
Nancy Drew, Season 3 (The CW)
Photo: Colin Bentley/The CW — © 2021 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
When they first announced the Nancy Drew show, I was nervous, having grown up loving the books. But season after season this show continues to deliver spooky mysteries, found family bonding, hilarious one-liners, and meaningful story arcs for their resident lesbian, Bess Marvin. Including but not limited to falling in love with the ghost inhabiting her best friend’s body. Just classic queer shit. Even now, as a new girl for Bess, Addy, makes her way onto the scene, she’s being integrated into more people’s lives than just Bess’s, so she has more of a purpose than just “Bess’s love interest,” a thing not all shows get right.
Legacies, Seasons 3 & 4 (The CW)
Photo: Chris Reel/The CW — © 2021 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
While Legacies has had its ups and it’s downs, it has always done one thing right: queer supernatural teens. Queer witch Josie’s journey of self-discovery never really being about her queerness, and her Dark Josie side never being any more or less queer than her Regular Josie side, or vice versa, was a relief, and watching her be supported on her journey by not one, but two regular girlfriends in the series was a delight. It seems Josie might be heading out of town, and on a lot of shows that would severely decrease the possibilities of queer romance on the show, but with her ex-girlfriend Finch being the alpha of the werewolf pack, and Hope proving that without Landon on the scene she’s actually interested in girls, too, I have faith that we haven’t seen the last of sweet lady kisses in Mystic Falls.
Wynonna Earp, Season 4 (SyFy)
I’ve written tens of thousands of words about how much I love Wynonna Earp on this very website over the years, and I have a feeling I’ll be writing about it for years to come. I don’t like picking favorites, I like to caveat almost all things with “one of my favorite” so as to never have to make a final decision, but this I can say with certainty, if you factor in the joy it brought me on first watch, the lingering feelings I have about it, the writing I’ve done about it, my willingness to rewatch, and the people it’s brought into my life: Wynonna Earp is my favorite show. Genre shows rarely make top lists because sci-fi is somehow not everyone’s jam, but that’s part of Wynonna’s charm. Not for everyone, but exactly right for those of us who needed it most.
Legends of Tomorrow, Seasons 6 & 7
© 2021 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
The past three years have been hard and dark and bleak but one thing I can always count on is that an episode of Legends of Tomorrow will let me practice true escapism for 42 minutes a week, because it’s hard to worry about much when you’re watching one of your favorite queer couples in TV history be wives and Co-Captains as they lead a band of misfits through time and space, encountering endless shenanigans along the way. 2021 didn’t have a lot of bright spots for me, but this show was sure one of them.
The Best TV Shows of 2021 With LGBTQ Women and Non-Binary Characters
After an uneven and often barren 2020 reflecting an industry brought to its knees by the pandemic, 2021 came back strong with new seasons of hotly-anticipated returning shows and a plethora of fresh projects for LGBT-inclusive television watchers… and a lot of pretty disappointing cancelations.
But the new TV landscape — a bounty of competing streaming services, cable channels bartering to maintain their niches while network TV struggles to keep up — continues benefiting those of us who would like to see lesbian, bisexual, queer and trans characters on our screens as often as possible. Nearly every scripted original adult program Peacock debuted in 2021 had a queer woman or non-binary character, and our top picks of the year encompass every major streaming outfit save Paramount+. (Who unfortunately has yet to re-up queer women on the consistently excellent Good Fight!) and only two network shows, both on The CW. It’s also becoming just about impossible for any cable or streaming service to debut a teen-focused show without making room for LGBTQ+ women and trans people, as witnessed in 2021’s Gossip Girl, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Saved by the Bell, Cruel Summer, Yellowjackets, The Sex Lives of College Girls and One of Us Is Lying, to genuinely name just a few.
2021 had something gay for everyone, including many taking a stab at representing not just queer characters, but some semblance of contemporary queer community, like Sort Of, Genera+ion, Work in Progress, The L Word: Generation Q, Pose and Betty — and in addition to those titles, several returning shows with queer lead characters, like Twenties, Feel Good, Dickinson and Master of None. Of those aforementioned, however, all have either been cancelled or have yet to be renewed, which is… distressing. The year’s biggest overall trend in terms of representation were some major leaps for non-binary characters played by non-binary actors after years of virtually no explicit representation at all, we got new major non-binary characters on shows including Sex Education, Rutherford Falls, Grey’s Anatomy, And Just Like That and Cowboy Bebop.
The list below was constructed using a very scientific voting process involving the eight members of the Autostraddle TV Team: me (Riese), Heather Hogan, Carmen Phillips, Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya, Natalie Duggins, Valerie Anne, Drew Gregory and Shelli Nicole. This voting and subsequent count was conducted prior to the release of Station Eleven. Just you know, FYI.
Look out for a companion post to this one in which all of our TV Team members take minute to plug some of our favorite shows that didn’t make the Top 25!
25. The Morning Show, Season 2 (Apple TV) (tie)
Last Year: Didn’t air
The Morning Show got gay. And no, it may not have been in the way anyone would have predicted, but actually I very much did predict this as soon as photos were released of Julianna Margulies’ new character Laura Peterson. I took one glance at those photos and said “gay.” And indeed, Laura Peterson “puts the L in LGBTQ,” an actual line uttered by Billy Crudup in the show’s wild and enthralling second season. The Morning Show really threads the needle when it comes to just blowing up its own narrative constantly and rearranging its characters allegiances and motives episode-to-episode but somehow…still making all the pieces land in a way that’s satisfying and entertaining. Its performances are great, and its stakes are always urgent to the nth degree. It’s a sleeper hit on this list in the sense that it’s honestly difficult to parse what makes it work. It’s delicious in the same way Funfetti cake is: a colorful and satisfying spectacle but ultimately uncomplicated. Some of the most interesting character dynamics here are, admittedly, not the queer romance but rather the codependent and often toxic relationships between coworkers. (Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya)
25. Euphoria: Jules (HBO) (tie)
Last Year: Didn’t air
Photograph by Eddy Chen/HBO
My problematic fave Euphoria begins its second season next month, but this year they gifted us the second of two special holiday episodes. “Fuck Anyone Who’s Not a Seablob” is the first episode of Euphoria not solely written by show creator Sam Levinson, here joined by star Hunter Schafer. If Levinson meant to create a test case for why all the episodes should (at least) have co-writers he succeeded. It’s not just Schafer’s personal experience that helps this achieve some of Euphoria’s brightest moments, but her talent. Different writers offer their different perspectives due to identity — they also offer their different perspectives as creatives. Here we get to learn so much more about Jules than we ever did in season one and I can’t wait to return to this character as a whole person rather than just Rue’s (and Levinson’s) Manic Pixie Trans Girl. (Drew Gregory)
24. Elite, Season 4 (Netflix)
Last Year: Didn’t have a queer female storyline
ÉLITE (L to R) CLAUDIA SALAS as REBECA, MARTINA CARIDDI as MENCÍA, CARLA DÍAZ as ARI in EPISODE 06 of ÉLITE. Cr. NIETE/NETFLIX © 2020
I always joke that Elite (or, Élite) is like if Riverdale and Big Little Lies had a baby in Spain but the truth is, Elite has a unique feel to it. These Spanish teens are mostly rich, often ruthless, and always making questionable decisions that are equal parts stressful and delightful to watch. With hardly any reasonable adults in sight, these youths fight and fuck their way through murder mysteries, scandals, and other dramas that are above and beyond the standard high school fare. And, of course, there are queer kids everywhere; in fact, a good number of these horny teens’ sexualities seem to be simply, “Yes.” But most notably, this most recent season showed Rebeka exploring the bisexuality she previously hinted at by way of new student, Mencía, who may or may not be loosely involved with Rebe’s mother’s drug ring. (Because while Netflix calls it a “thriller teen drama,” I’d argue it’s also got a touch of soap opera to it. In the best ways possible.) It’s nice when queerness isn’t always a very big factor of the drama (even when queer people are neck deep in it) because there’s too much else going on for people to worry about it. (Valerie Anne)
23. Kevin Can F*ck Himself, Season 1 (AMC)
New in 2021
AMC
I have a hard time watching the kind of sitcoms my parents love, with the laugh tracks and the rampant sexism. But with Kevin Can F*ck Himself, that’s entirely the point. And instead of staying with the husband as he annoys his wife out of the scene, the camera follows the wife into the kitchen. It makes this show two shows in one, and while the sitcom half remains (purposefully) irritatingly patriarchal and toxic, the drama half is gritty and funny and dark and fascinating and real. And queer! Annie Murphy’s Boston accent as Allison may be questionable but her acting skills are undeniable, and watching her neighbor Patty (Mary Hollis Inboden) discover and explore her sexuality was an added bonus. (Valerie Anne)
22. Search Party, Season 4 (HBO Max)
Last Year: Didn’t rank
Photograph by Jon Pack
Every season of Search Party has been a completely different show. And every season of Search Party has gotten better. Show creators Charles Rogers and Sarah Violet-Bliss have such a sharp and naturally queer sensibility and are proof that “satirizing privileged millennials” is a genre that can be done well even if it’s overdone. It helps that they’re just so funny. And this season they found their greatest asset in centering comedic genius Cole Escola. As the gender-nonconforming psycho Chip, Escola heals decades of fictional trans serial killer wounds — not because they’re countering that narrative but because they’re making that narrative feel like ours. For once, we’re in on the joke, we’re in on the horror. The fifth and final season premieres next month and I can’t wait to see what’s in store. I’m sure it’s something we’ll never expect. (Drew Gregory)
21. 4400, Season 1 (The CW)
New in 2021
Photo: Sandy Morris/The CW — © 2021 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Nearly every reboot we’ve witnessed in the past five years has attempted to correct its original’s inevitable homogeneity by adding LGBT characters and characters of color to their narratives. Others, like Party of Five and One Day at a Time, wipe the slate entirely clean, giving new life to an old premise by not just creating a more diverse cast, but shifting the focus entirely onto communities of color. The CW’s 4400, a reboot of the 2004-2007 USA series, is one of those others — most of the 4,400 “disappeared at some point within the last century” humans who find themselves suddenly dropped into a Detroit park in the present day with no knowledge of where they are or what has happened to them are Black. While some, like a trans doctor plucked out of his whooping cough research and busy Harlem Renaissance social life, are enchanted by the modern era and by the language that now exists to describe people like him; others from the more recent past are underwhelmed to find themselves again subject to an oppressive and racist police state or, on personal journeys, devastated to see how the lives they left behind have charged forward without them. 4400 has its small-scale charms, too, as unlikely friendships build across very literal intergenerational divides and romantic tension simmers, particularly between a lesbian parole officer stuck at a moral crossroads and a queer Muslim IT nerd already certain of the proper path forward. 4440 has bit off a big chunk of material and its clear The CW gave the production the lowest budget possible, but with its talented writers, winning characters, twisty storylines and the enduring joy of time travel, 4400 pretty much pulls it all off. They’ve established enough here to fill four more seasons, let’s hope they get the green light to make them. (Riese Bernard)
20. Only Murders In the Building, Season 1 (Hulu)
New in 2021
Only Murders in the Building was a delight of television writing from beginning to end, tightly packed, wholly funny and wholly suspenseful, without ever losing sense of itself. In comedy mysteries, it’s extremely hard to straddle the line between “is this a farce or should I care” — to be honest most in the genre lose their way about halfway through. But as Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez (excellent as always) work their way through the suspects who are also their neighbors to solve a.. literal… murder in their building, every turn was unexpected and keeps on edge. Speaking of delights, for all the murder-y turns, the biggest surprise was that as the show kept unraveling it become more queer and lesbian? Which became a mystery of its own right (why did this straight show suddenly get so gay) until you realize that Jamie Babbit not only served as director of some episodes, but also a series Executive Producer. Love to crack a case! (Carmen Phillips)
19. Betty, Season 2 (HBO)
Last Year: #11
Photograph by Stephanie Mei-Ling/HBO
The first of two shows on this list that HBO prematurely canceled, Betty was one of the great queer joys on TV. The plot may have been thin but it was just such a pleasure skating around with these girls as they navigated the modern world. While it had a casual, hangout energy, the series wasn’t without depth. While certain episodes had a “nothing happened” quality, every storyline in both seasons built to something really beautiful and true. There are shows that are queer and then there are shows that exist in a queer world — this was the latter. We deserve more of that, not less. In a TV landscape, where poorly written queer characters are often found declaring their labels with an afterschool special pride, Betty was a relief. Sometimes life is more complicated than a buzzword. Sometimes it’s so much simpler. (Drew Gregory)
18. Sort Of, Season 1 (HBO Max)
New in 2021
Photograph by Courtesy of HBO Max
Sort Of is a half hour dramedy that unravels like a mystery. Part of being visibly gender-nonconforming is being seen by everyone — but Bilal Baig’s Sabi is really seen by no one. They’re closed off from even their closest friends and family. They have enough one-liners and fashion sense to give an impression of openness that is far from the truth. The only person they let their walls down with a bit is Bessy (Grace Lynn Kung), the mother of the children they nanny, who can be equally elusive with the people in her life. Bessy getting into a coma starts Sabi on a journey of trust and Bessy’s husband on a journey of learning who he was married to. This is a beautiful show about the self-discovery that happens after self-discovery. Every episode reveals more about these characters — to themselves, to each other, and to the audience. They’re characters worth knowing. (Drew Gregory)
17. We Are Lady Parts, Season 1 (Peacock)
New in 2021
(Photo by: Laura Radford/Peacock)
Far too often and for far too long, television and film have flattened the portrayals of Muslims — particularly of Muslim women — and helped perpetuate stereotypes. But this year, We Are Lady Parts came along and turned all of those stereotypes on their head. Want to reduce Muslim women to being “traditionally submissive”? Lady Parts gives you “Bashir with the Good Beard.” Want to reduce a Muslimah’s entire character to a storyline about her headscarf? Lady Parts offers “Voldermort Under My Headscarf.” Lady Parts allows its characters — Saira, Amina, Bisma, Ayesha and Momtaz — to be more than television has ever allowed Muslim women to be.
Lady Parts‘ first series just scratches at the surface of its queer storyline — exploring more about Ayesha remains my biggest hope for the show’s second series — but it succeeds in creating stories that will resonate with queer audiences. (Natalie)
16. Batwoman, Season 3 (The CW)
Last Year: #18
Photo: Kailey Schwerman/The CW — © 2021 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Every couple of weeks, usually after an episode of Batwoman has aired, I’ll find myself in the TV Team’s slack channel and I’ll just marvel aloud at how improbable the show’s success is. They built this whole show around Kate Kane — around Ruby Rose — and then had it fall apart. Recast? Nope, rewrite… while staying true to its own canon and drawing from the DC Comics universe. Oh, and this time — just as the CW cancels its most prominent black lesbian character (RIP Black Lightning) — Batwoman introduces another: Ryan Wilder/Batwoman, played by Javicia Leslie. The odds were stacked against it and yet Batwoman has succeeded.
And not just succeeded… but, especially in this third season, thrived. (Natalie)
15. Girls 5Eva, Season 1 (Peacock)
New in 2021
Peacock TV
I don’t know whose idea it was to cast Sara Bareilles, Busy Philipps, Paula Pell, and Renée Elise Goldsberry in a musical comedy about a one-hit-wonder pop group but I want to send them an edible arrangement. What a gift this foursome is, hugely talented when it comes to the comedy of the show (of which there is an endless amount) and, of course, the performances. Real life lesbian Paula Pell plays Gloria who is obsessed with her ex-wife, played by Paula’s real life wife, and who takes the group’s newfound popularity to become the gay icon she didn’t get to be since she was closeted during their first claim to fame. It’s hilarious and over-the-top in all the best ways. (Valerie Anne)
14. Reservation Dogs, Season 1 (FX on Hulu)
New in 2021
CR: Shane Brown/FX
Reservation Dogs isn’t queer… at least, not in the way most folks expect shows to be… there is no character who explicitly identifies as queer on the show, yet. But nonetheless, queerness feels like an indelible part of Reservation Dogs… like it’s such a part of the show’s DNA that it doesn’t even need to be remarked upon. I’m not sure that any other show could’ve even tried such a thing and avoided my scorn but, somehow, Reservation Dogs threads the needle. (Natalie)
13. Shrill, Season 3 (Hulu)
Last Year: Didn’t rank
(Photo by: Allyson Riggs/Hulu)
Like Special, and Feel Good, Shrill is a delightful and socially relevant LGBT-inclusive comedy abruptly cancelled in 2021, but at least it’s going out on top. Its small ensemble of big personalities has always managed to make the most of its abbreviated screentime, including Shrill’s delightful Nigerian lesbian lead, Fran (Lolly Adefope), who this season confronted cracks in her armor of self-assurance as she transitioned into a new job and let down some walls to make room for Emily, including introducing her to her family. Trans comic actress Patti Harrison’s Ruthie, always a reliable source of absurdity, got a little more depth this year — Fran, Annie, Ruthie and Maureen’s big Girls’ Night Out made me ache for so much more where that came from. (Riese Bernard)
12. Master of None, Season 3 (Netflix)
Last Year: Didn’t Air
MASTER OF NONE S3 (L to R) LENA WAITHE as DENISE and NAOMI ACKIE as ALICIA in episode 305 of MASTER OF NONE. Cr. COURTESY OF NETFLIX © 2021
Master of None: Moments In Love wasn’t what folks weren’t expecting. While so much of the Internet seemed fixated in how it wasn’t the Master of None they’d come to adore, we relished the opportunity to see “moments of love” between two black queer women. But, ultimately, the season’s five chapters felt uneven at best… short on the very thing the name had promised us, love.
Yet still, Master of None finds itself among our favorites of the year due in large part to “Chapter 4,” which tells the story of Alicia’s rollercoaster of a pregnancy journey. It is such a tremendous high — the beautiful synchronicity of the writing, performance and directing depict the not often showcased heartache of fertility treatments — that it eclipses the season’s other shortcomings. It is Lena Waithe at her absolute best. (Natalie)
11. The L Word: Generation Q, Season 2 (Showtime)
Last Year: #4
Photo Credit: Liz Morris/SHOWTIME.
The first half of Generation Q’s second season was everything we’d craved from its first: messy, over-the-top gay chaos, Bette Porter Crying About Art, Micabel, surprise sexual and romantic partnerships and fun friendship moments between the main ensemble’s characters, and really important pantsuits. With a kickoff premiere that saw every relationship in disarray and our Season One cliffhanger — would Sophie pick Dani or Finley? — thrown off-kilter in the most ridiculous way possible — we were set up for success. The show is at its best when it leans into the soapyness and frivolity, poking at the alliances and connections between a group of self-obsessed and ambitious hot people who rarely learn from their own mistakes. It generally faltered in its attempts to tackle Big Issues like the opioid crisis, racial injustice and alcoholism. But even the stuff we hated was stuff we loved to talk about, and The L Word franchise continues to be the #1 way to bring queers together on the internet to talk about lives, loves and sex scenes. We’ve still got our fingers crossed for a season three! (Riese Bernard)
10. Work in Progress, Season 2 (Showtime)
Last Year: #8
Chuck Hodes/SHOWTIME.
While many shows chose to ignore the pandemic, I’m glad Work in Progress decided to confront it. Abby is a unique character on television because she’s a fat queer dyke, but she’s also unique because of how honestly the show portrays her mental illness. I’m grateful we got to watch her navigate the pandemic in all its misery. I’ve often waxed poetic about how wild it is that Sense8 ever existed on television — but in a smaller way I think this deserves the same shock and praise. Lilly Wachowski stepped away from bigger budget fare so she could help bring to life queer stories without interference. It’s impressive to have queer representation in an action show — but it’s also impressive to have queer representation that feels this personal, specific, and far away from the basic conversations. Work in Progress’s second season took all the risks. We deserve more queer television that does just that. (Drew Gregory)
9. Pose, Season 3 (FX)
Last Year: Didn’t air
CR: Eric Liebowitz/FX
When Pose’s creator, Steven Canals, announced that the show’s third season would be its last, he promised, a season “filled with all of the love, the laughter, and tears that you have come to expect from the Evangelista family.” Boy, did Pose deliver.
We shed tears over the loss of the show’s patriarch and when Angel and Papi finally said “I do.” We laughed as Elektra became a BOSS and read a bigoted shop owner for absolute filth (and then came back and stole everything he had). We loved seeing Blanca get her happy ending. We loved seeing women who once had to steal finery from a museum get the chance to own their wedding dresses and witness one of their own say “I do.” It was a beautiful swan song for a show that broke records right until the very end. (Natalie)
8. Dickinson, Seasons 2 & 3 (Apple TV)
Last Year: Didn’t Air
AppleTV+
Alena Smith’s take on Emily Dickinson’s life feels like a bit of a balancing of the scales for the time Sue’s name was edited out of most of Emily’s poems and letters in an attempt to shove her in a closet it doesn’t seem she particularly cared for. Hailee Steinfeld gives a wildly charming performance, and her chemistry with Ella Hunt’s Sue is electric. The modern humor and music with the period outfits and goings-on brings so much humor and heart to the poet’s story, and it’s truly unlike anything I’ve ever seen. With a cast of characters that enriches the town of Amherst, you can’t help but look forward to the next ring of the doorbell or the next Dickinson salon. The TV landscape is going to be a little worse off without this show in it next year, so I’m glad we could honor it with this list one last time. (Valerie Anne)
7. Genera+ion, Season 1 (HBO Max)
New in 2021
Photograph by Warrick Page/HBO Max
Sometimes when shows get canceled I get tagged in anxious fan posts trying to start campaigns to bring them back — Genera+ion is the only time I thought about joining in. It’s not just that it was a great show (it was) but it was a great show that took time to get there. In its first half of episodes I saw promise, in its second half I saw mastery. Shows that are able to adapt to their strengths are exactly the kind that deserve several seasons to develop. And while the writing was funny and sharp, the cinematography was subtle and gorgeous, and the editing was inventive and tight, this was a show made by its cast. Haley Sanchez and Chase Sui Wonders stand out as our central queer girl couple but really every single cast member deserves to be mentioned. They’re all so good and the ones who aren’t already famous are about to be stars. And if that wasn’t enough this show really did hit some representational milestones in a way that felt really natural. Like Betty it was a show of casual queerness. Sanchez’s Greta was one of the few characters ever on TV who was asexual and homoromantic. It’s such a shame we didn’t get to see more of her story. But I’m still grateful we got to see. These 16 episodes are worth revisiting again and again and again. (Drew Gregory)
6. Yellowjackets, Season 1 (Showtime)
New in 2021
Photo credit: Kailey Schwerman/SHOWTIME.
What can I write about Yellowjackets that I haven’t already written about Yellowjackets? No, for real, every week I write about 3,000+ words about this show, because every chapter is worthy of intense, up-close analysis. It does comedy, horror, and interpersonal drama equally well. Its cast is fantastic. And it’s just such an original and exciting concept, whiplashing between typical teen drama fare, an in-depth look at the lasting effects of trauma on its adult characters, and a slow-burn time-jumping survival horror paranormal mystery! There’s just… so much. And yet, so far, the balancing act has been on point. It has shade of Lost, Dare Me, and retro horror movies. And it’s striking that a show can keep its cards this close to the chest and not feel like it’s lagging or being withholding to the point where it’s only running on the fumes of mystique. I can’t remember the last time I was this enthusiastically along for the ride wherever a show might take me. (Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya)
5. Hacks, Season 1 (HBO Max)
New in 2021
Photograph by Anne Marie Fox/HBO Max
Hacks is undoubtedly one of the year’s most critically acclaimed shows — an acerbic, surprising comedy anchored by Jean Smart’s incredible performance as Deborah Vance, a once-groundbreaking female comic in her golden years fighting to remain relevant, who finds herself saddled with an uninvited writing assistant, Ava (Hannah Einbinder), a self-centered pansexual Gen Z social media failure tasked with elevating Vance’s material into a more profitable contemporary plateau. What could be a bland re-tread of the Odd Couple premise is in fact its polar opposite, elevated by the crackling comedic chemistry between Vance and Ava and the unlikely spaces in which they eventually land on a thread of connection elevates the Odd Couple premise into one of the year’s most lauded productions. As Ava and Deborah hurl zingers across the marbled atriums of her Vegas mansion, surrounded by lawn sprinklers and liars, both cowering beneath the terror of potential irrelevance and their stubborn egos, we’re carried into rooting for people we don’t really like to realize how much they could, and should, like each other. (Riese Bernard)
4. Twenties, Season 2 (BET)
Last Year: #7
BET
Twenties‘ first season hemmed a little too closely to creator Lena Waithe’s own story to make Hattie’s misadventures feel brand new. But in its second season, Twenties has firmly established its own voice — and stepped out of Waithe’s shadow — and it is stronger for it.
Don’t get me wrong: Hattie is still a mess. One minute you’re celebrating her growth — joining a writers’ group! getting out of a toxic relationship with Ida! a real relationship with Idina! — and the next minute she backsliding into a problem entirely of her own making — lashing out after receiving critical feedback and (possibly) cheating. It was a rollercoaster but it was fun, entertaining and… if we’re being honest, highly relatable. (Natalie)
3. Feel Good, Season 2 (Netflix)
Last Year: #15
Credit: Luke Varley
The second season of Feel Good tells one of the most layered stories of confronting and unfurling past trauma I’ve ever seen on television. In just six episodes, it does so much, building on the strengths of the first season but also expanding the narrative even more. Its storytelling around relationships, sex, gender, addiction, and healing is so intimate and complex, situated strongly within great character development and performances. I didn’t think it would be possible to outdo season one, but I think season two did the trick. (Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya)
2. A Black Lady Sketch Show (HBO)
Last Year: Didn’t air
Photograph by Ali Paige Goldstein/HBO
In the opening episode of A Black Lady Sketch Show‘s second season, Shantya the Baliff is reminiscing about the time that she found herself in the middle of a Black Lady Courtroom. The new court reporter asks if it’ll ever happen again — if they’ll ever find themselves in a space filled with only black women — and Shantya answers, “I keep hoping but you know what they say, ‘good things only happen to Black women once.'” But that sketch and the rest of ABLSS’s second season prove that old saying very, very wrong. Building on some classics from its first season — Courtroom Kiki, Dr. Haddassah, pre-PhD and the Coral Reefs (blippity!) — ABLSS’ hilarious second season captures lightning in a bottle all over again. (Natalie)
1. Sex Education (Netflix)
Last Year: #3
Sam Taylor/NETFLIX © 2020
Every year, Sex Education gets better. It gets bigger, more inclusive, and more complicated — all while never losing its heart and humor. In fact, Laurie Nunn’s Netflix show is the best evidence that cultural specificity and political astuteness lead to better television. So many shows treat inclusivity as a box to check or a way to be current — Sex Education understand that inclusivity equals opportunity. The queer stories on the third season included Lily’s self-doubt, Eric’s trip to Nigeria, Adam’s unlikely friendship with Rahim, and Ola learning to express her own desires. We also finally got the show’s first trans character in Dua Saleh’s Cal. Their complicated relationship with Jackson, rivalry with headmistress Hope, and eventual mentorship of another non-binary student, Layla, were all handled with the show’s expected mix of sharp storytelling and, well, education. This isn’t a show that talks down to its audience with platitudes and basic explanations — it’s an education the way life is an education, the way communicating with a new partner is an education. We’re all still learning, all still growing. Sex Education is a masterpiece, because it’s not afraid to grow right alongside us. (Drew Gregory)
Autostraddle’s Favorite Lesbian and Bisexual TV Episodes of 2021
We watch a lot of TV around here. Add that to the fact that time has basically lost all meaning, and it’s a tricky pickle to try to remember our favorite episodes of TV in 2021. When we started working on our year-end lists, we had a hard time remembering what shows even aired in 2021! But no matter how much media we consume, and no matter how many existential crises we endure on a global level, there are just some episodes of television that stick with us. These are the ones that warmed our hearts and stimulated our minds and activated our lust the most this year.
The L Word: Generation Q Episode 206: Love Shack
Gathering every character into an enclosed space for a limited period of time was a perfect recipe for all the best soapy lesbian drama we expect from The L Word franchise, shot through with joy and jokes and actual music! This episode had everything: a love confession via Tegan and Sara karaoke, a half-turtleneck-sweater that I will never stop thinking about, awkward vibes, arguments that actually made sense and moved the story forward, silly conflicts resolved with relative finesse, and a major step forward for three of my favorite couples: Sophie and Finley, Dani and Gigi and Alice and Tom. But most importantly, it had that epic performance of “Love Shack” from our OGs; Bette, Alice and Shane, giving Leisha and Jennifer a chance to show off the vocal skills they’d not yet had a chance to showcase. – Riese
Yep! I second all of the above! An episode set entirely at queer karaoke feels specifically engineered for me! My only complaint is that it didn’t have MORE musical performances. Gimme an entire musical episode! – Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya
Reservation Dogs Episode 107: “California Dreamin’”
It’s honestly damn near impossible to choose a favorite episode of Reservation Dogs. It’s one of the best first seasons of a new series I’ve seen in a long time, and there isn’t a single flop in the bunch. I love the structure of the season and that we get episodes that zoom in on individual characters within the ensemble. This is the spotlight episode for Elora Danan, played by Devery Jacobs, who deserves all the accolades for her performance. Reservation Dogs is truly a hybrid comedy-drama, moving between grief, humor, goofiness, and ache, sometimes delivering all of it at once within a single scene. “California Dreamin’” confronts multiple losses for Elora, and Tazbah Rose Chavez’s writing and direction is gorgeous and crackling throughout. It’s pretty much perfect television. — Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya
Reservation Dogs, Episode 106: “Hunting”
So much of Reservation Dogs‘ first season is a meditation on grief…how we cope in the aftermath of loss and, in “Hunting,” what our traditions look like in someone’s absence. In the episode, Willie Jack (played exquisitely throughout the series by Paulina Alexis) and her father, Leon, on the first day of hunting season. Leon goes reluctantly: he hasn’t been hunting in a year because it reminds him too much of his late nephew, Daniel. But Willie Jack wants the reminder: settling back into the tradition she once shared with her cousin allows her to grieve freely. Plus, there’s work yet to be done: bagging Chunk, the “big-ass buck [Willie Jack and Daniel] seen about three, four years ago.” Through the hunt, the father and daughter bond with each other and let go of the emotional weight they’ve been carrying since Daniel’s death.
The grief that poured out of Leon and Willie Jack, as they hunted, felt like my own grief spilling out of me, as I watched March Madness for the first time without my father. Willie Jack’s overwhelming desire to chase Chunk reminded me of the ways in which I chased (and continue to chase, if we’re being honest) the goals my father set before he died. “Hunting” resonated with me as much as anything I saw on television this year. — Natalie
Yellowjackets Episode 101: “Pilot”
Queer horror directed by Karyn Kusama? Yellowjackets had me in a CHOKEHOLD the minute it began. The pilot is just so confident in its style and story. A collage of freaky, stripped-down horror and time-jumping slow-burn drama, it’s an immersive, enchanting feast. It checks a lot of the same boxes for me as the brilliant, underrated Dare Me, exploring the violence of girlhood and the ritualism of team sports. The show is still in the midst of its first season, but regardless of where things go, this pilot is a knockout. — Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya
I can’t remember the last time a pilot gripped me like this. Maybe it’s Karyn Kusama’s direction, maybe it’s the similarities to Lost — aka the original pilot to grip me so much I decided to make a TV show my entire life — maybe it’s just gay cannibal soccer girls starring many of my 90s faves. We’re only four episodes in so it’s possible my new favorite show won’t live up to its promise, but for now I am enjoying the ride! A good pilot makes you want to keep watching the show. A great pilot makes you want to make the show a major component of your Twitter presence. I’m @draw_gregory if you’re curious where I’m at with this one. — Drew Gregory
Sex Education Episode 306
As far as I’m concerned, season three of Sex Education consisted of eight perfect episodes. But among all those gems, the sixth is somehow even better. This is the episode that gives us a glimpse into Lily as a child while in the present she starts to lose herself due to Hope’s increased emotional violence. We also see the effects of that on Cal — with an especially pointed scene where Hope compares the two non-binary students. And, most importantly, this is the Eric in Nigeria episode! These three threads result in an episode where queer characters find themselves at various stages of owning — and exploring — their true selves. It’s painful and beautiful and everything I love about this show. — Drew Gregory
Sort Of 105: “Sort Of a Party”
While the first episodes are a bit too concerned with plot mechanics, this is when Sort Of became one of my new favorite shows. As someone who doesn’t easily express my emotions, I really appreciate the willingness to have a protagonist who can sometimes appear cold. It’s through the child they’re nannying that they’re able to understand their own emotions leading to a melancholy and cathartic end. I love the emphasis here on queer family even for a child who isn’t identifying as anything yet. It’s so exciting when a promising show clicks and this episode clicks and then some. — Drew Gregory
Master of None Presents: Moments in Love, “Chapter 4”
Can I be honest? I’d begun to wonder if “Thanksgiving,” the 2017 Master of None episode that earned Lena Waithe her Emmy, would be the last time that she made something I truly loved. Sure, there were parts of The Chi, Boomerang and Twenties that I liked but they were often eclipsed by the things I didn’t. I wondered if “Thanksgiving” was that one moment where we’d caught lightning in a bottle and we’d never be able to achieve it again. But then lightning struck, again.
“Chapter 4” isn’t just the highlight of Moments in Love, it might be the highlight of Lena Waithe’s career thus far. The self-contained episode takes us inside Alicia’s rollercoaster of a pregnancy journey… a journey filled with frustration and despair and, somehow, determination in the face of it all. The writing, the acting and the cinematography aligned beautifully to depict the not often showcased heartache of fertility treatments. It’s painful, raw and real… and it’s absolutely my favorite thing Lena Waithe has ever written. — Natalie
Can I also be honest? Natalie already said it best. I have nothing to possibly add, but I wanted to also register that this was, hands down, my favorite episode of the year in any genre. It has haunted and stayed with me in the best, most moving, ways. I’m really grateful for it. Ok and for all the rest of it, consider me just co-signing Natalie. — Carmen
Pose, Episode 303: “The Trunk”
Since Pose‘s eleventh episode, Elektra’s trunk has been the secret hanging over. The mummified remains of Elektra’s client couldn’t remain a secret forever — though Dorian Corey’s did — and so the audience waited, with bated breath, until Chekhov’s gun finally went off. And in Pose’s final season, that gun finally went off but not in the way I expected. “The Trunk” was less about the corpse that lay inside — though watching Blanca, Ricky and Papi move the trunk is hilarious — and more about the ghosts that’d lingered around Elektra’s trunk for long before we met her. Before it became her client’s makeshift sarcophagus, Elektra’s trunk kept her safe: first, from her mother’s prying and judgmental eyes and then, as she tried to build a home for herself and her children. But by the time she deposits her trunk in a “lake of shit,” Elektra no longer needs the safety it once provided: she’s built a way out of no way, providing safety and security for herself and her family. — Natalie
Wynonna Earp 412: “Old Souls”
It absolutely broke my heart to say goodbye to this show, but if it had to end, what a way to go. Supernatural shenanigans, found family feels, and a big queer wedding? What else could you want in a finale! Plus it had all the staples of Wynonna Earp, specifically humor and heart, plus little boops to the fandom. Until Wynonna Earp came along, I thought no show would ever give me that made-for-me feeling that Buffy once did, and I’ve found some of my favorite people through this show, but even without all those personal connections, it was just a very solid, true-to-the-show finale. And so, so gay! The way the TV gods intended. — Valerie Anne
Wynonna Earp 411: “Better Dig Two”
I don’t write about Wynonna Earp very often because Wynonna Earp is super-fans and I have a hard time remembering the lore and intricacies of the plot the way they do. But the series ended this year, and I want to honor that by talking about my favorite episode, the one where Nicole swears a literal oath the be the Angel Shield, to protect her town and her family and most of all her girl, with her whole entire self for the rest of her life. It’s fantasy romance at its absolute best — read the book of your life and see me on every page? come ON! — and it’s also Dominique Provost-Chalkley and Kat Barrell at their bests too. What a payoff for four seasons of romance that saw each of them with their own individual growth arcs, over and over, and multiple couple-y arcs as well. Plus writer/showrunner Emily Andras pulled off this piece of mythology without diminishing Waverly’s relationship with Wynonna. Being a queer sister and a queer wife is a funny little balancing act, even without the magic and monsters; both of those relationships have shaped and shielded Waverly. And even here at the end, they both matter the absolute most. — Heather
Batwoman 213: “I’ll Give You A Clue”
This might not be the best episode of Batwoman, because I swear each episode of Batwoman is better than the last these days, but I think it was my favorite of this year, though it was hard to choose between this one and 306, How Does Your Garden Grow. I ended up going with 213 because I have such a clear vision of Ryan, Sophie, and Mary working together after a season of trying to figure out how to do exactly that. It felt like a turning point in their team dynamic, a dynamic that keeps growing and delighting week after week. — Valerie Anne
Batwoman 305: “A Lesson From Professor Pyg”
The main way I know TV writers are with me — like with me — is when they start using fan fiction tropes to wink at me. I could have chosen basically any episode of Batwoman for this list. It’s been THE show of 2021 for me. But “A Lesson From Professor Pyg” features FAKE DATING between true loves Sophie and Ryan, which gives them both a little bit of insight into their lusty lovey-dovey feelings for each other, and also gives us the chance to see other characters roll their eyes out of their heads because Sophie and Ryan are SO OBTUSE and STUBBORN. (“You’re wearing a push-up bra, it’s a date.”) I love a slow-burn, I love sapphic angst, and I love love. Batwoman is the most fun I had watching TV this year, and this episode is a classic reason why. — Heather
The dinner with Professor Pyg was not the first time the writers of Batwoman left breadcrumbs that established where they are going with Ryan and Sophie. It may not be my favorite Batwoman episode of the year, though it is very close!! My favorite is probably the “Ill Give You a Clue,” on the strength of the Girls Night drinking games alone. But I emphatically believe that this s their best, most tightly crafted, fun and suspenseful and swoon worthy episode. It’s the one I would point anyone to if I was trying to to sell them on the series.
On top of all of that, I wanted to highlight “A Lesson from Processor Pyg” precisely because, like Heather said, it’s fan fiction. This isn’t the only time that the Batwoman writers have winked directly at their own nerdy gay base (in Season Two, Sophie tells her younger sister that she and Ryan will never happen — “not even an enemies to lovers maybe”), but to have an entire episode dedicated to the Fake Dating trope is a gift. Genre television fandoms are full of AO3 archives brimming with fics (Wildmoore is currently sitting with more than 110+, and Ryan and Sophie haven’t even shared a kiss yet), video edits, role plays, and illustrations. It’s a major part of what makes loving sci-fi in particular so much fun. Usually writers aren’t willing to join their fans in the sandbox, but the Batwoman writers room is taking a different approach. They are telling Ryan and Sophie’s story by speaking its audience’s own language. Batwoman is dark and campy and silly all at once, but it’s not afraid to be romantic, it’s not afraid to embrace the joys of being a nerd. I think that’s pretty special. — Carmen
And Just Like That 103: “When In Rome”
The original Sex and the City was absolutely terrible when it came to LGBTQ rep; And Just Like That promised to be to be better at it. “When In Rome” is proof that the series is serious about that. Not only does it feature three stories we hardly ever see on TV — tween Rose coming out as trans, non-binary comedian Che Diaz crushing their own comedy show and accidentally then purposely seducing Miranda, and Miranda’s middle age realization that she’s not straight — it also paints the cis white gay male voice of the show as completely out of touch with the queer experience of 2021. It’s sweet, it’s sexy, it’s authentic, and it blows my mind that a Sex and the City spin-off could be trying to push the envelope this way. Everyone’s talking about this dang show, it’s the main thing in the cultural zeitgeist at the moment. And it is very, very queer. — Heather
The Owl House 208: “Knock, Knock, Knockin’ on Hooty’s Door”
When I was 12 years old, my best friend reached out one day on the bus and threaded our fingers together and held my hand. It lasted maybe three nanoseconds — but the bolt of emotional lightning that ripped through me is something I will never, ever forget. I never felt that way holding a boy’s hand. I thought, “Oh my god, I’m having a heart attack!” But what I actually was having was a crush on another girl. Amity and Luz’s relationship makes me feel those feelings of young queerness all over again, especially in “Knock, Knock, Knockin’ on Hooty’s Door” when they finally both admit they have feelings for each other. The way it happens — Hooty sending them through a truly horrifying Tunnel of Love in the basement — is one of the funniest things to happen on TV this year. I crack up even just thinking about it. And at the end of the day, surrounded by the kind of chaos and destruction only a hysterical magical house can unleash, they blush like watermelons and hold hands. They can’t make eye contact yet, but they will. One day. — Heather
Fantasy Island 107: “The Romance and the Bromance”
Oh is it more fan fiction? Yep! It sure is! Fantasy Island is a silly little network TV diversion with a surprising amount of gayness, and “The Romance and the Bromance” is just one big Regency Era romance novel crunched into a 42-minute episode. Isabel can’t get her head out of her books, so Elena sends her into the past to meet her favorite author, R.S. Coldwater, who turns out to be Rachel Coldwater writing under her husband’s name. They fall for each other, do some secret trysts by the light of the fire, completely annihilate a homophobic and sexist publisher — and, best of all, they live Happily Ever After. It’s just the antidote to the endless nightmare stories of this year. — Heather
Saved by the Bell 210: “Let the Games Begin”
This is actually not the Very Special Themed LGBT episode from the most recent season of Saved by the Bell (and yes, I realize that usually calling something a Very Special LGBT Themed episode would be a dig, but with Saved by the Bell, which defined the genre of corny after school specials for so long — lest we never forget “I’m So Excited! I’M SO SCARED!” — I think we can let this one slide).
“Let the Games Begin!” is the Season Two finale, and Bayside must take down the losers at Valley in a battle of school spirit (because, of course). Aisha, reboot’s take on AC Slater as the school jock — quarterback of the football team (yes) and promising young wrestle, has been dating Chloe, the president of the LGBTQ Student Club, for a while now. It’s been a lot of very adorable butterfly nerves and also nerding out and just the right amount of emotional punch. But Aisha hasn’t told her best friend Daisy (the reboot’s Zach Morris) and it’s caused some distance between them. That is until now, when Daisy and Aisha make up, and Aisha promptly comes out to Daisy’s love and giddy affirmation. Then after winning her wrestling match Aisha runs into the stands, takes Chloe up into her arms, and kisses her for the entire school to see.
There’s something about a bisexual jock in a Bayside letterman’s jacket getting the girl that has stayed with me. It’s sweet, perfectly written in its over-the-top comedy, and has every bit of the swoony teen magic that made Zach and Kelly icons to begin with.
I think no one ever expected Saved by the Bell to be on any Best of The Year lists, including me, the person who’s writing this! But you know what? This year was long and it’s ending on an exhausting note with another wave of the pandemic on the rise. We deserve joy. This was JOY. Maybe I’ll try being serious again next year. — Carmen
The Watch List for Trans People Who Need a Smile This Holiday
Each year, many trans people enter the cycle of anguish that is family time. We have complicated relationships with our family—but not always because there is malice or harm being done. Our families deal with the cultural pressure to produce sameness. The same kind of cisgender, heterosexual children who live and love the same ways they were taught to.
While we can’t control the behaviors of our families, we have at least a little bit of control over how we cultivate our peace. To balance out the often stressful home environments that bring up childhood wounds, we are tasked with finding the rituals and sometimes distractions that bring us back to ourselves.
This watch list of trans-affirming content is sourced from many places. If I could, I would box all of it up along with a big teddy bear and some of your favorite treats to remind you that you are loved by this world. You are a blessing to your family, whether they know it or not.
Jules and Rue’s Intimacy in Euphoria
I almost didn’t believe it when I saw Jules’ bulge in Euphoria. I don’t know if I’d ever seen a feminine person on national television who visibly presented as having a penis. The image sent the message that girls with bulges are not objects of repulsion. In fact, in every scene where we see her visibly trans body is a scene where she receives intimacy from someone she loves. Her body was not something to be hidden. It was something that deserves closeness and reverence.
Electra Reads a Transphobe for Filth in Pose
There are many moments in Pose that display the fire in its female characters. This scene, where Electra tells off a cis white woman who clearly was trying to preserve a white supremacist space, sits at the top of the list. The scene illustrates the legacy of segregation. These Black trans women have just as much right to be here as cis white woman. Even while there may not be many explicit “white-only” signs anymore, we know that the spirit of white supremacy continues to operate in most public spaces.
Electra reminds of the way trans woman are often “self-made,” that we’ve had to fight hard to be who we are in a world that denies us our womanhood every day.
Kids Meet a Trans Athlete
Legislators have consistently sought to limit the freedom of young trans athletes to live their lives with freedom. These legislative attacks have placed a burden on the hearts of our community. So many trans children already lose their chance to truly be carefree kids in the home. In this video by production company Cut, Olympic athlete Chris Mosier speaks to kids about his training and what it like growing up trans.
The results are adorable, honest conversations that show that transphobic legislators do not represent the interests of children — whether they’re trans or not. Children know what it’s like to be left out or dealt an injustice.
Caretakers on PBS
“Caretakers” is a PBS series created by trans model and activist Geena Rocero, spotlighting the people who provide vital care to their communities. The series demonstrates the strength we have when we foster healing connections among each other, so we all can thrive. One episode of the series highlights Aleksa Manila, a genderqueer therapist and healthcare worker who is also a drag queen.
Few people recognize that trans and gender nonconforming people have been each other’s families and support systems for so long, because we’ve been rejected by our birth families. Aleksa Manila is carrying forward the beautiful legacy of community care that has sustained us.
Janet Mock Interviews Laverne Cox on MSNBC
Back when Janet Mock was hosting her MSNBC show So Popular!, she introduced us to brilliant minds like Zeba Blay, Ashley C. Ford, and Lauren Duca. For many years, Janet Mock and Laverne Cox were the two most visible trans people in the public eye. To have them sit in front of one another and have a conversation felt almost surreal. Laverne was on the show to discuss Orange is The New Black, a series that marked the beginning of an era where more trans characters were written as multidimensional people and actually played by trans actors. Watching them support one another felt like the kind of trans love we needed to see.
Trans in Trumpland
A series directed by Tony Zosherafatain, four trans people speak to how the Trump administration impacted their lives. The series illustrates the harm caused by medical bans and athletics bans, among other policies, but more importantly, itIdemonstrates the fierce tenacity of trans people and their families. We witness a young trans boy who receives the exact kind of love we all deserve, as his mother navigates healthcare for her child. We also have the opportunity to learn more about two-spirit communities and the way Indigenous people continue to embody and carry forward the wisdom in their lineage.
The Story of Sisterhood in Tangerine
There’s an inexplicable magic in sisterhood, especially between two trans women. We often rely on sisterhood to crawl out of our loneliest moments. Tangerine, a feature film shot entirely on an iPhone, throws at us the widest range of experiences and emotions that happen in the container of a trans woman’s life: fear, betrayal, desire, desperation, joy, and peace. But what we always return to is sisterhood.
Kids Meet a Gender Nonconforming Person
“Do I look like a girl to you?”
“Yes.”
“Well, what if I told you sometimes I feel like a boy?”
“That’s okay!”
Another gem from Cut, this video showcases a conversation between a group of children and a nonbinary person named Nanta. Often times, conversations about gender can feel so weighty. But the way these children approach the conversation with an open heart reminds us it doesn’t have to be so nerve-wracking.
Autostraddle’s Favorite Lesbian, Bisexual, and Queer TV Couples of 2021
It’s time for my favorite end of year TV Team list! The one in which I — Heather Hogan, Captain of Team Love Is Not a Lie — make everyone say their favorite fictional couples of the whole year! It’s fun because most of the people on this team keep banging on their pots and pans, marching around yelling about how love IS a lie, but then they actually love love and love to watch love and love to write about love — so what is the truth!
Once again, these are our individual personal preferences, and not a list based on empirical data.
As always, please share your favorite TV couples with us in the comments!
Carmen
Sophie and Ryan, Batwoman
Originally I had a different way that I was going to write about the slow burn love affair of Sophie Moore and Ryan Wilder (Wildmoore, for those of you in the know).
I was going to talk about their sweetness, their loyalty, how fun it is to watch the Batwoman writers so openly flirt with gay fanfic tropes on prime-time television (at one point in the second season, Sophie tells her younger sister that she and Ryan will never happen, “not even an ‘enemies-to-lovers’ maybe,” and in the third season they go on a Fake Date undercover). And that is all still true!
But on Monday, Javicia Leslie, the Black bisexual actress who stars as Ryan/Batwoman, responded to yet another one of our End of Year Lists celebrating Sophie and Ryan with a personal love letter of her own:
“As a kid, it was so rare to see romance between 2 black women on screen. A lot of shows tend to pair the person of color with a person of a different race than their own (which is beautiful as well). But to see a reflection of myself, and other women I know… RARE!”
She went on to thank the Batwoman writers and show creator Caroline Dries for “creating characters that showed ‘our’ kind of love.”
That’s when I knew, I had to write the more honest tribute.
Yes, it is great that Sophie and Ryan are a main text slow burn relationship, written with the kind of layered, detailed care — even in the middle of an often over-the-top silly fun superhero show! — that is almost never given to queer romance. But it also matters, so deeply and emphatically in my toes matters, that what we are seeing on Batwoman is a lead romance between two Black women.
It’s just not that it hasn’t been done before (though it hasn’t! Not like this.) — I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what gets lost in conversations when we talk about “representation.” Over the years we’ve used the word so much, I fear we’ve begun to flatten it. Representation still matters, but not all representation is equal. What has happened this fall, where we’ve gone from nearly no Black women being in relationships with other Black women in our television history, to it rapidly becoming something like a norm, is already unparalleled and should be celebrated. Within that, what is quietly developing between Sophie and Ryan on Batwoman — the depth, the authenticity, the learning how to trust and tongue-in-cheek flirtations and always always reaching out for each other’s hands — it is the kind of romance that takes my breath away.
What I’m going to say next will probably seem like a lot to close on, and again I do realize I am talking about A SUPERHERO SHOW ON THE CW as I type this, but there’s a Maya Angelou quote that has always meant so much to me. I’m usually afraid to say out loud in case it’s misunderstood, “I can’t believe my good fortune. I’m so grateful to be a Black woman. I would be so jealous if I were anything else.’’
That’s what Sophie and Ryan have meant this year. Black women finding love, safety, and yes even heroism, in each other.
I’ve never been more grateful.
Shelli
Fran and Emily, Shrill
I love Fran. I’m so sad that we won’t be able to see a more finessed close to her story since Shrill came to somewhat of an abrupt ending, but I am hella grateful to have seen her get into a pretty dope relationship before it did. Mostly, because it was on her own terms. I love Fran and Emily together because Emily took Fran for exactly what she was. I know what you’re thinking (“Damn is the bar on the ground?!”) but how rare is it for someone to take you for who you are in your entirety? For them to see you — loud, silly, direct and autonomous as fuck in Fran’s case — and say “I would like to be with you please, just as you are thanks.”
I found sweetness in Emily’s introduction to Fran’s mum and how they bonded, I loved how Fran stood up for Emily when meeting their family and I loved how cute they were — laughing and giggling — when watching their sex tape gone wrong. The ending would have us believe that maybe, in a lapse of communication, they split — but I don’t think they did. In my mind, after Fran chats and has a moment on the park bench with Annie, they took a few days apart and then talked to realize that they can make their own steps. That there is no relationship rule book and that maybe they don’t have to live together to be in love.
But then again, the show is canceled and I am wildly optimistic about everything, so maybe they had fantastic break up sex and Emily went back to being Fran’s dealer — but that’s a good relationship too, so win/win?
Heather
Sophie and Ryan, Batwoman
We went ’round and ’round on the TV Team when we were trying to decide if Ryan and Sophie qualify as a couple, and we ultimately decided yes because: 1) If it was a cishet pairing, everyone would consider them an inevitable pairing. 2) Even the actors talk about them as a sexy forgone conclusion. And 3) We’re obsessed with them IT’S FINE.
Ryan and Sophie are exceptional for so many reasons. There are hardly ever relationships between two queer Black woman on-screen, especially on a network show like this. There are hardly ever relationships where both queer characters are in the main cast because that would mean multiple queers on the same show. There are also hardly ever will-they/won’t-they relationships with two queers because there’s hardly ever that many queers and so there’s not much suspense about who’s gonna smooch whomst. And, finally, there’s hardly ever queer relationships where both characters have their own storylines, their own growth arcs, their own relationships, where they have to work to become right for each other and are full of angst and longing glances along the way. All of which is to say that Sophie and Ryan are exceptional both because we’ve really never seen their relationship on TV before, and also because it’s being treated with the same kind of normalcy as straight relationships.
Watching them makes me feel like my actual heart is ON FIRE.
Luz and Amity, The Owl House
Most LGBTQ+ characters on animated TV are on shows that are geared toward older audiences. Older for kids, I mean. Shows like Legend of Korra, Adventure Time, Steven Universe, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. And so most of them are also on platforms like Netflix or on Cartoon Network.
Luz and Amity, though? They’re aimed at younger kids! Disney Channel kids! Kids who think a house made out of a literal owl is the funniest thing in the world. Er, the kids and few amazing adults who think a house made out of a literal owl is the funniest thing in the world. (“Hoot hoot. I don’t need a babysitter, I’m a big boy house!”) What makes Luz and Amity so special is that when they start developing feelings for each other, it doesn’t freak them out that the feelings are for another girl, it freaks them out that their feelings are feelings. This is first crush stuff. Baby gay stuff! It’s funny and adorable and cringey in the most relatable ways. It makes me remember how nervous and ecstatic I was the first time I even held a girl’s hand! It makes me feel that way again! And I’ve been with my wife now for over a decade!
Amity and Luz are that kind of relationship that stays with you for the rest of your whole entire life, because it came at you during your most formative years. How amazing that they’re both cool being queer, and how amazing that the kids watching at home have the chance to feel that way too.
Emily and Sue, Dickinson
Sometimes I still can’t believe we got three full seasons of a show basically dedicated to the relationship that history tried to erase from Emily Dickinson’s legacy. In so many ways, her whole life and so much of her poetry was shaped by her relationship with Sue Gilbert, and Dickinson takes that truth and explodes it on-screen in the most sweepingly romantic, wholly dramatic, purely delightful ways. Emily and Sue are the reason words like “epic” were actually invented, and it’s a damn delight to see that play out on prestige TV.
That their relationship also colors in the lines of Dickinson’s ghost, showing how playful and ambitious and lusty she really was? Well, that’s just a bonus. Dickinson‘s tagline could always have been “Sue — forevermore!” and I think real-life Emily Dickinson would have loved that.
Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya
Gigi and Emotional Processing, The L Word: Generation Q
This season of The L Word: Generation Q made a lot of missteps, but one thing it got absolutely right was playing to the strengths of Sepideh Moafi. The fact that it was canonically established that Gigi simply LOVES to process things? Incredible. Especially since Gigi’s main romantic entanglements of the season (Bette and Dani) are notoriously anti-processing. It was such a joy to watch a hot, chaotic dyke essentially ask and how does that make you feel to everyone and everything.
Drew
Greta and Riley, Genera+ion
I’m still sad about the cancellation of Genera+ion and the premature end of one of the best couples on TV. Greta and Riley may not have been great at communicating, but what else do you expect from teenage queers? Their chemistry and care for one another never faltered and by the end of the season when they did communicate it was all the more satisfying. Haley Sanchez and Chase Sui Wonders gave each other gazes of longing to rival any period piece that emphasized the will-they of their season-long will-they won’t-they. This is also one of the rare relationships on screen to include a character who is homoromantic and asexual and I really wish we got to see how Greta and Riley navigated their relationship! Alas HBO Max giveth and HBO Max taketh away — at least we got to spend sixteen episodes with two of the best realized teens I’ve ever seen on TV.
Kirt and Shelby, Betty
Favorite couple does NOT have to mean healthiest. Nor does it even have to mean an official couple. Shimbo Kirt falls head over skateboard for her friend’s girlfriend Shelby and things go about as well as one might expect. Shelby has that whole “I’m a straight girl, I’m not leaving my boyfriend, this is just fun and doesn’t count as cheating” thing going and Kirt just can’t resist. Betty was one of the casually queerest shows on TV, letting its young queer cast be themselves as they navigated the show’s lowkey storylines. I think that’s why this trope we’ve seen so often feels so unique here. It feels like the real version of this dynamic when we’ve seen a fake version again and again.
Valerie Anne
Ava and Sara (aka Avalance), Legends of Tomorrow
Sometimes when I’m watching Sara Lance confer with her partner in life and in work, leading a team of misfits across time and space with her wife by her side, open to others’ opinions, and quickly apologizing and course-correcting when she’s wrong, and I think of how far she’s come from the hot-tempered, icy assassin we once knew. No longer with beaus in different area codes (or decade), no longer fighting her feelings like she did with Nyssa, just being honest and open and vulnerable with the love of her life. It’s amazing! And Ava! Defying the odds, defying her literal code, being the master of her fate and, quite literally, the captain of her soul. Their conflicts never lie in petty arguments or jealousy, or really anything regarding the integrity of their relationship; any tension between them usually comes from their co-parenting co-captaining decisions and their differences in approach to problem-solving. They manage to have such a grounding and inspirational relationship despite being in one of the most unhinged and wacky shows that has ever existed, and I love them for it.
Maya and Carina (aka Delishop if you’re me, Marina if you’re everyone else), Station 19
This one was hard because I’m so, so mad at this show right now, but the truth is, for the vast majority of this year, I was head over heels for this show, so I don’t think I can deny Maya and Carina this spot. I love watching their interactions, their chemistry feels so palpable to me, and even when the writing makes me quirk an eyebrow, the little glances, the subtle hand placement, all of it feels so right and so gay that I can’t help but smile like an idiot when they’re on screen. I knew the honeymoon phase wasn’t going to last forever, though I did think it would last a LITTLE longer after the literal honeymoon, but I still love watching them, and also love watching Danielle and Stefania support the ship on Instagram, showing off their off-screen chemistry and making their on-screen relationship almost TOO convincing.
Natalie
Maya and Carina, Station 19 (Season 4)
Like Valerie, I’m not thrilled about the recent developments with Maya and Carina — namely Maya’s 180 about having children (continuining a loathed Shondaland tradition) — but this couple continues to astound. This year, they were severely challenged — with COVID, Carina losing her brother, Carina’s immigration status and a temporary move back to Italy, Maya coming out to her parents and their impromptu wedding — but they’ve faced all of it together and come out of it stronger than ever. The chemistry between their portrayers, Danielle Savre and Stefania Spampinato, hasn’t wained a bit… it remains palpable.
Lauren and Leyla, New Amsterdam
Sometimes you find yourself invested in a couple despite yourself. From the second Lauren Bloom paid a bribe to ensure that her girlfriend, Leyla Shinwari, could remain close, rather than accepting a residency in Washington state (of all places!), I knew they were doomed. Their relationship would implode, for sure, it was just a matter of time. But I found myself hoping nonetheless; hoping that Lauren would realize her misstep and tell Leyla the truth before she found out from someone else or that Leyla would understand the forces that fed into Lauren’s desperation. I realize now — now that everything’s falling apart — that I became so invested because of how much I saw myself in Lauren Bloom.
Before Leyla, Lauren Bloom (like me) was cynical about love. It was a well-earned cynicism… from watching one relationship after the next — including some of her own — fall apart so spectacularly. She wasn’t sure that she believed in love anymore or that if it existed, that she deserved it. But then Leyla Shinwari turns up in Lauren’s ED and they start to build something… a friendship at first, a love second…and Lauren’s cynicism starts to erode. I think some small part of us — people like me who swear that love is a lie — wants something to come along and rid us of our cynicism and give us cause to be optimistic. For a while, Lauren had that with Leyla and it gave me hope for cynics everywhere.
Autostraddle’s Favorite and Least Favorite Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans TV Characters of 2021
Every year, our TV Team complies a list of our favorite and least favorite TV characters. (See: 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016.) I say this every year, and it’s important, but no one ever reads these dang intros, so please allow me to bold it: This is not a list of the categorically BEST and WORST LGBTQ+ TV characters. It’s a list of the favorites and least favorites of each individual member of our TV Team. And that’s a good thing! There’s so much gay TV now that we can all watch things that best suit our interests! And we can all form our own opinions about the characters based on our own lived experiences, the other stories we’ve consumed in our lives, and our personal preferences. I never thought this would happen in my lifetime, but look at us. (Look at us!)
As always, we’d love to hear your faves and least faves in the comments!
OUR FAVORITES
Natalie
Elektra Abundance Evangelista Wintour, Pose
Early in Pose‘s third season, Blanca has dinner with her boyfriend, Christopher, and his parents and recounts the entire tortuous night for Elektra and Angel as they prepare for the ball. When Blanca tells Elektra she wasn’t clocked at dinner, her Mother stares at her in disbelief and asks, “Were they elderly? Their vision compromised?” It’s a sharp barb that, out of anyone else’s mouth, may have made a lasting impression. It’s the kind of sharp barb that Pose fans have come to expect from Elektra; from the moment the series began, the quick, often caustic (and sometimes necessary) wit has been an indelible part of her character. Some of the show’s most memorable moments are from an Elektra Abundance Evangelista Wintour read.
But the third season of Pose gave us an Elektra who was more than just a witty retort. The show added depth to her character this season by giving a glimpse into her world before she became the Elektra we knew. Suddenly, everything we’d ever known about Elektra made more sense. We understood why wore her caustic humor as armor and why she’d occasionally direct it at the people that she loved most. But, ultimately, we saw a woman — desperate to give her children the mother that she never had — who offers her children, her full-throated support.
After she tosses the barb at Blanca in the aforementioned episode, she pivots to restore her daughter’s shaken confidence. She tells Blanca: “You listen to me right now. You were given nothing and made everything. If they were giving away college degrees for truly living, you would have a doctorate. You are my daughter. You are every fucking thing.”
Oh, Elektra…you are every. fucking. thing.
Ryan Wilder, Batwoman
Until last year, I’d never bought a comic book before, at least not for myself. But then came Batgirl #50 and the introduction of Ryan Wilder, officially, into DC Universe.. .and I bought my first comic book. Weeks before Javicia Leslie’s debut as Ryan Wilder on my screen, I was invested and had a small sliver of this forthcoming reality to call my own. A black woman was going to wear the cowl one day and I wanted some tangible representation of it.
Ryan’s introduction in the comic is brief — a tense interaction outside her van with an old “friend,” Barbara Gordon — but the Ryan Wilder we’d later come to know is on full display: strong, defiant and taking special care of her plant. The thing that struck me more, both then and now, about #50 was a piece of Barbara’s internal monolog. She thinks, “The death of an era is an opportunity to get rid of the old and usher in something new. Something better. Take the time to reexamine our heroes. And maybe find new ones…” Batwoman found its “something new” in 2020 and in its third season, it has truly become “something better.”
Batwoman is truly firing on all cylinders this season: Renee Montoya joining the Bat Team in their hunt for Batman’s trophies. Montoya blackmailing Ryan/Batwoman into working with Alice. The fleshing out of Ryan Wilder’s backstory through the introduction of Jada Jet and her son, Marcus. They’ve found a way to build a world around Ryan Wilder while giving all her supporting characters more juicy stuff to tackle: Luke gets to come into his own as Batwing, Mary steps into villainy as Poision Ivy and Sophie is Gotham’s most eligible bachelorette and one-half of the juiciest slow burn queer love story on television. AND WE HAVEN’T EVEN GOTTEN TO ROSE BRIDGET REGAN APPEARING ON-SCREEN YET.
Ryan Wilder is shaping something new and something better… and if you’re not watching, you’re missing out.
Elora and Willie Jack, Reservation Dogs
Reservation Dogs is a very funny show. Bear’s spirit guide, The Unknown Warrior, William Knifeman. Cheese’s ride along. Officer Big’s recounting of his encounter with Deer Lady. The perpetually high, Uncle Brownie. Mose and Mekko cruising through town on their bikes, spitting freestyles as they go. Punkin’ Lusty’s catchy (and hilarious) song, “Greasy Frybread”. The beaded microphone necklace Bear tries to buy for his father… which ends up looking like a penis. Reservation Dogs is a very funny show… and if that was all there was to the show, it’d still be worth watching.
“We’re Indian women,” Bear’s mom laments to Elora, after his father fails to show up again. “We have to deal with reality when they go off and play. And at the end of the day, we’re the ones who have to make it work.”
For most of Reservation Dogs‘ first season, the boys get to have fun. They get to go off and play. They get the light stories which only graze the grief that envelops the community following Daniel’s death. But Elora and Willie Jack aren’t afforded that luxury: they have to deal with the reality, they have to make it work. Both characters are forced to confront their grief in painful and real ways (in “California Dreamin'” and “Hunting,” respectively)… and in doing so, transform a good show into a great one.
Heather Hogan
Ryan Wilder, Batwoman
I have written extensively on this website about how much and why I love Ryan Wilder, and Natalie said it all so well above that no additional words are needed. So I will say this one thing: When you write about TV for a living, TV becomes a job. And because there are just so many different queer shows and movies these days, it’s actually kind of impossible for our team to have much overlap in what we’re viewing and reviewing.
But Batwoman is the exception. It’s one of those rare shows that nearly all my friends and co-workers on the TV Team watch, and love, and wait for with giddy anticipation, and discuss at length! Before the episodes, as soon as promos or behind-the-scnes IGs are posted, during commercials (which we actually sit through to watch it live), and after episodes for the whole week until the new one airs. There’s not so much of that anymore. Hardly anyone even watches TV live anymore. But Batwoman’s got us in its grasp the way so many of our classic beloved shows and characters did when we stumbled across queers on TV for the first time.
Ryan Wilder is a gift for a zillion reasons, and making me feel like a little kid again is one of them.
Emily Dickinson, Dickinson
I loved every second of Hailee Steinfeld’s portrayal of Emily Dickinson, and this show is the first one I’ve been really sad about ending in a very long time. First of all, Steinfeld has done more to reclaim Emily Dickinson’s passionate, overwrought, sapphic weirdness than anyone besides Sue Gilbert’s own daughter (who tried to counter the narrative of Dickinson as a dour, solitary spinster, but wasn’t able to get the literary elite to listen to her). And even if this Emily Dickinson wasn’t true to life (I personally think she is as close as we’ve gotten!), Steinfeld’s take on the character brought me endless joy. She’s funny and lusty and full of life and ambition, and she’s dramatic as all heck, which the real life Dickinson undoubtedly was. I’m gonna miss this series something fierce, but this version of one of America’s most posthumously panned poets is gonna live forever.
Luz, The Owl House
Luz is my all-time favorite fictional baby gay. If she’d been around when I was a kid, I would have not only realized I’m a lesbian sooner, I would also have embraced my weirdness with a quickness! And both of those things would have made me so much happier so much earlier in my life. Luz loves magic! And then she finds out magic is real, and learns magic! And along the way, she gets her own bizarro found family; finds the courage to pursue her crush on cool, over-achieving witch Amity; and never stops striving to be the the best friend, and daughter, and student she can be. She’s full of great ideas and truly terrible ideas, and no matter what, she bounces back and is ready for the next adventure. If I’m being honest, she’s just as much of a role model to me as an adult as she would have been to me as a kid. Plus every episode of this show makes me laugh until my guts hurt. HOOTY-HOO!
Gloria McManus, Girls5Eva
I probably wouldn’t have watched Girls5Eva if I didn’t need to write about it, because I’m pretty burned out on Tina fey’s whole deal — but man, I am glad I did. It’s one of those shows you have to watch multiple times to catch all the jokes, like each line of dialogue is a hidden treasure if you’re willing to invest in the payoff. The fact that Paula Pell, a real life middle age gay, plays a fictional middle age gay makes it even better. There’s hardly any 50-year-old women doing leading roles in comedies, and even fewer lesbians, and as a 40-year-old lesbian myself, it matters to me! Gloria McManus struggles with normal aging things, and is terrible at love, and is kind of awkward, and the flashbacks of her pretending to be straight hit so close to home it wounds me. (But in my funny bone.) Pell isn’t the star of the show just like Gloria isn’t the star of Girls5Eva, but she’s an important part of the ensemble and her lust for Gillian Anderson is universal.
Che Diaz, And Just Like That
You know that gif of Saoirse Ronan as Jo March from Little Women where she’s just sort of hysterically gesticulating and saying WOMEN… ? You know what I’m talking about? Sara Ramirez makes me feel like that, like I’m standing on a freezing cold hillside close to sobbing my eyeballs out and just like all I can say is SARA RAMIREZ. (Who is not a woman, but that emotion is the one I’m trying to convey. The helpless hopeful giddiness of it.) I’ve only seen the first four episodes of the Sex and the City sequel, but they are easily the highlight of the whole thing, just charm and magnetism and charisma for days. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a queer TV character just as fucking cool as Che Diaz (including even original Bette Porter). They’re so confident and steady and smart and hilarious and everyone who meets them is both drawn to and slightly terrified of them. For a show that failed in nearly every way with POC and queer rep in its first incarnation, having a “non-binary Mexican-Irish diva” joining essentially the main cast, and in a way that is already so developed, I honestly can’t get enough. I can’t wait to see what they do next. I can’t wait to see how deeply in love with them I am actually able to fall!
Carmen Phillips
Che Diaz, And Just Like That
At the time of my writing, Sara Ramirez’s Che Diaz has only been in two episodes of the Sex and the City sequel series, And Just Like That, and both of those episodes aired just a mere days ago! So it almost feels like a cheat to include them. But then, mid-way through my (and I am not kidding here) fourth rewatch of Che in the funeral scene in And Just Like That’s second episode, I knew that I was kidding myself.
In less than 15 minutes total, Che looks drop dead gorgeous in that black suit (and if there was a better dressed queer character this year than Che standing tall, slightly leaned back with confidence almost bordering on cocky, with their hands in their pockets, I don’t know them); makes a joke about being a bouncer at a dyke bike bar in their past life; takes a handkerchief out of their pocket (swoon) to help an elderly woman’s tears; gets Brady Hoobes high and withstands Miranda’s Papa Bear protection; and then calls Miranda A DADDY to make her blush. Why lie? They made me blush too.
And listen, there might be a little bit of a “most recent glow” memory here — I can admit to that. Maybe I’m going to regret this early inclusion. But I’ve been waiting for Sara Ramirez’s debut as Che since they were fist announced in the role back in March. That is 10 months of heady anticipation, and in this one scene they already knocked every one of my lofty hopes and dreams out of the park. Sara Ramirez, easily one of the most beloved queer actors of the last 15 years, hasn’t let me down yet. So I’m going to bet on them again, just one more time.
Sophie Moore, Batwoman
I have a theory about Sophie Moore. I believe that if you squint just right, her story has actually been the bedrock of Batwoman all along. Some of that is due to the casting change of the title role between Seasons Two and Three, where what was once meant to be Kate’s story instead became Ryan’s (and thankfully! Javicia Leslie is the greatest gift to Batwoman’s production in every way), but because of that Sophie is actually the lesbian character on the show we have known the longest — right from the beginning.
If we can briefly take a time machine back to the pilot (stay with me), it’s Sophie choosing to stay in the closet at Point Rock, rather than risk exclusion and everything her family has sacrificed for, that’s the catalyst for everything that comes after. It’s Sophie who is Alice’s first victim, when she’s kidnapped. It’s Sophie’s supposedly straight world that we watch get turned upside down with Kate’s return and Sophie who we watch gain the bravery to come out to her mother. When her worst nightmares — the reason she stayed in the closet for so long! — become true and her own mother turns her back on her, it’s Sophie who we watch still leave her husband anyway to tentatively start to date women.
When in the second season Ryan Wilder becomes yet another caped crusader who turns everything Sophie thought she knew to be true upside down, this time about her role as a member of a privatized police force and the ways in which police units like The Crows commit state sanctioned violence and murder of Black people, it’s Sophie who we once again watch dig deep and find the courage to change herself for the better by walking away from the organization she had dedicated her life to.
Now in it’s third season, Batwoman has asked: What happens with Sophie when everything we once knew about her has been stripped away? Well, the answer is she’s going to toss a bunch of women against walls and make out with them, for one. But she’s also going to grapple with real emotional vulnerability. The most polished and buttoned up woman in Gotham is going to get messy. She’s going to take down her own walls so that she might finally get the love of her life that she never knew she wanted.
It’s rare that a television show takes the time of peeling back layers and really tackle what compulsory heterosexuality looks like — the lies we tell ourselves to force boxes that never fit. But also how coming into yourself and your queerness, it’s not fear — it’s freedom. It’s revelatory and it touches every part of you, not just who’s in your bed at night. Meagan Tandy has recently taken to joking about Sophie being “The Love Interest” online, but in truth she’s always been so much more. She’s always been the star.
Ryan Wilder, Batwoman
I don’t know when it happened, when Batwoman became a chore I kept up with for my job in its first season, to a pleasant background show after the casting change in its season season, to my overall obsession and the main interest in my life became convincing every I know to watch it IMMEDIATELY. But I do know know why it happened: Javicia Leslie’s work as Ryan Wilder.
Javicia (and Ryan) already had the honor of a clean sweep at this year’s Gay Emmys, so I’ve written about her before as an actor — the infectious energy that she’s brought into this role, her skill for fight choreography and nailing the perfect one liners. The responsibility that’s been thrust onto her shoulders. This time I want to specifically talk about Ryan as a character.
In it’s third season Batwoman has found its stride (and starting running with it!) as a show that’s kooky campy dark in the way of Pretty Little Liars, with fanfic slow burn tropes lovingly come to life, more authentic Black humor and dialogue, all taking a stroll down the lane of one of the most iconic comic properties of all time — seriously you don’t have to ever seen a Bat Time or Bat Channel to know who Poison Ivy or the Joker are — and Ryan’s the circus ringmaster through which all those seemingly discordant themes flow. She’s fierce in her batsuit, a positively swoon worthy and chivalrous romantic lead, she’s loyal and soft and fights for good but also has a temper that’s best not to mess with. In flannels or skin tight gowns, her swag is unparalleled.
And OK! I know I said I wouldn’t make this about Javicia, but it makes a difference when you cast queer actors in queer role. They already know how to build a romance with women; they simply play the flirtation onscreen instead of waving a big technicolored “Look I’m Playing Gay” flag that you can see from space. And the slight octave drop in Javicia’s voice when Ryan smirked at Sophie, “woman you are hard to please” after a death defying stunt in Batmobile? It’s been living rent free in my head since October. That’s that on that.
Pippa Pascal, The L Word: Generation Q
When I found out that thee Black Hollywood icon Vanessa Williams had been cast in this season of Gen Q, even sight unseen I immediately knew that she was not only going to be Bette’s love interest, but that Bette was going to be in over her head. And I was right on both counts.
To be honest, Pippa was thinly written (something we’ve discussed before) so I was surprised when I looked back over the year and she kept rising back to the top of my lists. But that’s the power of Vanessa Williams. At one point Bette reached out for Pippa’s hand during a “business dinner” and Pippa said, “don’t touch me like that, unless you’re planning to come home with me” and from that moment on — it was a wrap.
She also loves boundaries! Pippa told Bette that her relationship with Tina was unhealthy, something that I’ve been waiting for Alice or Shane (not that either one of them would know healthy) to say for over a decade now. And anyway, do you know who could use boundaries? Literally ever character in the expanded The L Word universe, that’s who.
IF Bette chooses Tina after all of this, I’m flinging myself directly in to the sun. Pippa Hive, we’re rising!
Ida B., Twenties
Usually when I compile these types of year end lists, I try to think reasonably about what I considered “The Best” and why. I try to write blurbs that are worthy of the caliber of performances that we’ve received that year. And do not get me wrong, as Ida B. Sophina Brown gave one of the most richly nuanced performances and unexpected of the year.
Sophina’s found that underneath Ida’s icy cold mean femme armor is, well, a barbwire fence and attack dog, but underneath that is a lonely closeted woman in her late 40s who is scared to allow herself joy out loud and absolutely terrified that if she chose that joy she would lose everything she’s spent her life working for. Heavy stuff for a half hour comedy! But Sophina’s comedic timer has never been sharper than this season. She knows how to ride the tension between her and Jonica Gibbs (Twenties lead, Hattie) and expertly play it like a string instrument, choosing when the notes should be playful or charged at her whim. Ida’s withering stare, her pout, the way that she speaks so softly over a game of Uno or a Jodeci duet in her bedroom, the way she turns stoic because simply saying “I’m scared” would be too much — every element has been nothing short of perfection.
But also yeah, and I really just cannot emphasize this enough, IDA STEP ON ME PLEASEEEE.
Yessika Castillo, Gentefied
After breaking up with her first and only girlfriend since childhood, Yessika Castillo found herself standing on her own two feet and in the process walked away with Gentefied’s entire second season. That alone is deserving of her spot on this list.
In Gentefied’s first season, Yessika was not given the respect that she rightfully deserved, ultimately being turned into a two-dimensional stereotype of an angry Black woman. In the second season the Gentefied writers’ room not only apologized for these story decisions, having Yessika return to call out the anti-Blackness of the Morales family directly, but went to the necessary further step of finally fleshing out Yessika to become her own character — with friends that weren’t her ex girlfriend’s family, with a job she’s in charge of that serves her community, and ultimately when Ana reaches out to rekindle what they once had, with Yessika holding firm that she’s deserving of more than what’s she has been offered in the past. Despite their best intentions, returning to Ana will always mean becoming consumed by Ana’s family and for once — just for once! — Yessika wants to see what it means to be for herself instead.
Through it all Julissa Calderón shines like a megawatt bulb of charisma, effortlessly capturing attention and not stealing scenes, but owning them outright. In Yessika’s quiet moments with Ana, lines that are almost whispers, sizzle underneath your skin from her delivery. When Yessika gets a standalone episode of her own, Calderón steps into the spotlight like she was made for it all along. And that’s because, well, she was.
Shelli Nicole
Golnar “Gigi” Ghorbani, The L Word: Generation Q
DESERVES THE WORLD. Communicates, looks banging in awful shirts, wears copious amounts of gold necklaces, autonomous and direct — all the things you le$beans be saying you want but when you get it you don’t act right or get scared. She’s an incredible mum who teaches her children to be proud of their heritage, has a fantastic apartment, and is also damn good at her job. Also, she was part of the best sex scene that has ever happened on The L Word — OG and reboot. She is the absolute best.
Riese
Golnar “Gigi” Ghorbani, The L Word: Generation Q
After playing third fiddle to Nat and Alice in Season One of Generation Q, Gigi and her gorgeous locks and heavy gold jewelry stepped into the light as a fully-realized character with more emotional wherewithal than the rest of the cast combined: perceptive, empathetic, communicative and HOT AS HELL. She was also believably flawed, prone to teasing and sometimes craving approval for her ego instead of her heart. She was the breakout performance of Season Two and honestly she brought Dani right along with her.
Mae, Feel Good
Portrayals of addiction and recovery on television are trope-ridden and one note and reductive, but Feel Good is a whole-ass symphony. Beneath Mae’s predictably irresistible boyish presentation and its inevitable allure was a well of want, trauma, and compulsion; always relatable, often sad, and usually also quite funny. Because what is the point of suffering if it doesn’t earn us a great bit, you know?
Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya
Golnar “Gigi” Ghorbani, The L Word: Generation Q
Okay, so HOW MANY of us are going to write about Gigi? But also, she deserves it. She also deserves a love interest who is actually willing to talk to her about their feelings. And WE deserve a million more sex scenes from her, because she delivers every time. The Great Top Off Of 2021 between Gigi and Bette is one of the best scenes of television of all time in my horny opinion!
Taissa Turner, Yellowjackets
Both teen Taissa (Jasmin Savoy Brown) and adult Taissa (Tawny Cypress) are extremely compelling characters in an ensemble full of compelling characters. The psychological horror of adult Taissa’s storyline, the young queer love story of teen Taissa — I love these arcs and look forward to watching them unfold as Yellowjackets season one continues into the new year. The eyeball sequence from the third episode — featuring THREE Taissas — is one of the most legitimately terrifying horror scenes the show has done so far.
Drew
Chip, Search Party
While Clarice may have tried to reclaim the trans woman killer trope, it was Search Party that succeeded. No it didn’t provide a polite foil to our transsexual killer — it just made that killer human… and hilarious. Cole Escola is a comic genius and their transfeminine psychopath is a joy to watch. They’re genuinely frightening while making me laugh harder than anyone else on TV this year. Search Party is a weird show that’s gotten weirder with every passing season. This season was its best and that’s largely due to Escola. The goal is not to get rid of queer villains — the goal is to get queer villains this fabulous.
Idina, Twenties
During the season one finale, Idina’s monologue felt like a relief in a gay show where the only queer characters were closeted (Ida, Chuck) or into closeted partners (Hattie). Part of why season two has been so much better has been Idina’s increased role! I desperately think she deserves better than Hattie but I’ve also wasted time on hot people I shouldn’t have so who am I to judge? It feels really true to me the way that Idina can both identify her problem — that she gives too much without it being reciprocated — and speak up for herself — like when Hattie asks her on a date — and yet STILL finds herself repeating those same patterns. Shylo Shaner is so natural and lovable on screen and while I’m certain Hattie and Idina are not going to work out, I hope that doesn’t mean Idina is going to be written off. Lesbians love to stay friends with their exes! That’s our whole thing! Make Idina a major character separate from Hattie!
Valerie Anne
The Women of Batwoman, Batwoman
OKAY yes I’m already cheating but L I S T E N how could I choose ONE of these women?? My first instinct was choosing Ryan, who is funny and strong and not great at letting people help her but getting better every day. She’s a plant-lover and too forgiving of her exes and not forgiving enough of herself. She does her best to keep her heart guarded, but oh what a good heart it is. But then as I was thinking of Ryan, of course I thought of Sophie. Who is a tough-as-nails woman who is overcoming a lot of fears. It’s been a pleasure to watch her figure out who she is and what she stands for and then stand for it with both feet planted firmly on the ground. And don’t even get me STARTED on the Wildmoore slow burn. I live for it! And that’s not nearly the end of the list of the dynamic and complex and fascinating women on this show. Mary, Alice, Renee Montoya, I love them all and what they bring. They add so much excitement and hilarity and badassery (and attractiveness) to Batwoman that somehow gets better and better every episode.
Emily Dickinson, Dickinson
Hailee Steinfeld’s Emily Dickinson is one of the most fun characters to ever grace my television screen. She’s the perfect combination of hilarious and chaotic and dramatic and just so, so gay. I’ll never forget the first time I watched the first season of this show and in the first scene, Emily dropped a casual, “This is such bullshit,” and I knew this show was going to be different than any other “period piece” I’d ever seen. Or any show, for that matter. And it continues to be wonderfully unique. And, in case I didn’t mention it yet, GAY. I’m absolutely devastated that this is the last year I’ll be able to include this wacky prolific poet on my list of favorites, but I have a feeling I’ll be rewatching this show for years to come.
Alex Danvers, Supergirl
Across the six seasons of Supergirl, Alex Danvers had one of the best arcs of any queer character I’ve ever seen. She started off a closed-off, over-protective big sister, came out as an adult, had her first love, her first heartbreak, she slept with the only other queer woman at a friend’s wedding, found the love of her life, suited up and fought alongside her, adopted a child with and got married to her. It’s the dream arc that a lot of characters don’t get to have, usually because they’re an afterthought or because of cancellations. And Supergirl was an imperfect show, and it sidelined Alex’s love life more than it should have at times, but Chyler Leigh fought hard for Alex, and when Azie Tesfai joined the team, she fought for Kelly right alongside her, and the series finale centered around Alex and Kelly, Sentinel and Guardian, and their beautiful gay love story coming to a fairytale happily ever after.
OUR LEAST FAVORITES
Shelli Nicole
Bette Porter, The L Word: Generation Q
Get Over Yourself Mama. Look, I know y’all love her but we are way past her being messy. She needs quite a bit of help. How has she never had a conversation (that we know of) with her Black child about how her mother had zero interest in having a Black child? Perhaps that’s one of the reasons why our angel Angie is having a lot of the identity issues she is going through. If you can talk to your child about their queerness, you can talk to them about race. She also didn’t want to help BIPOC artists by scamming the shit out of the fancy art company she works at AND she’s about to play the shit out of Pippa. She’s kind of a bad person bro — and I hate most of her pantsuits.
Natalie
Eva Rhodes, The Bold Type
In the grand scheme of things, no one cares about Eva Rhodes. Eva would be a footnote, a character who people only recall when Alex Paxton-Beesley (whom I’m sure is a lovely person) shows up on something else you’re watching and you remember that time she played Kat’s Republican girlfriend. For most fans of The Bold Type — and, particularly, for queer fans of The Bold Type — seeing Kat Edison reunite with Adina El-Amin and achieve unprecedented professional success was enough and that would be how they remembered the show. But I’ll remember the god awfulness that was Eva Rhodes and I hope others will too.
Not because the character was pivotal to Kat’s story — because, again, she wasn’t — but because of what a character like Eva represents: the co-opting of representation to further harmful ideals. After The Bold Type‘s series premiere, we didn’t see Eva again, but we’ll see versions of her for years to come. We’ll see queer, sharp-dressed, cute women like Eva whose charm masks their offensive politics. We’ll see a white recurring character who will come to matter more (to the writers) than a show’s black series regular. There will be more Eva Rhodes. This time, we caught it — it may have been the only thing TBT fans were unanimous about in the show’s entire run — but we should guard against it, always.
Heather
Kate Kane, Batwoman
If you’d told younger me that I’d be adding Kate Kane to a WORST list like this, I never would have believed you. During Batwoman’s original solo comic run, I used to drive to the comic book shop first thing in the morning on release day, and wait for it to open, just to get my hands on the newest issue as fast as I could. She meant so much to me. But nostalgia is never, ever, ever a good reason to make excuses, and allowing a fondness for a character who shaped you long ago to cause harm in the present can be a violence. (Yeah, I said it.) Ryan Wilder is Batwoman. She inhabits the role the way she owns that cape and cowl. It fits her. And it does so because this is the moment we need her, and heroes always arrive at exactly the right time. Javicia Leslie as Ryan Wilder has changed everything about Batwoman (the character) and Batwoman (the show) for the better.
Keeping Kate Kane alive, having her give the title of Batwoman to Ryan, it not only undermines the character in the story, while leaning hard into a whole lot of hackneyed narrative racism; it also empowers racist fans to abuse a bisexual Black actor in real life (even more than just the daily racism she already faces), and leaves the door open for DC to continue touting Kate Kane as Batwoman in other properties. Which we saw play out just exactly as we knew it would in DC’s Pride Anthology this year. It doesn’t help that the person playing Kate Kane, Wallis Day, perpetuated racist attacks against her co-stars in an effort to further her own career and screentime. This whole thing was just all-around gross and every Black actor, writer, crew member, and fan on and of this show deserves better.